Contact: Aaron White
Phone: 202-225-5506
Aaron.White@mail.house.gov
Bangor, Wisc. – Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind joined Farmers for Free Trade, an advocacy nonprofit promoting the benefits of trade for American exporters, and Wisconsin farmers for a rally in Bangor, Wisconsin. The rally was included as a stop in Farmers for Free Trade’s cross-country “Motorcade for Trade” RV tour.
“Wisconsin farmers, workers and families are the backbone of Wisconsin’s rural economy, but this Administration’s trade war is limiting access to the markets they need – including our most valuable trading neighbors, Mexico and Canada. I was happy to join farmers and agriculture leaders in Bangor today to talk about the crisis facing our family farms, and hear directly from our family farmers about what they need to succeed in the global economy,” said Rep. Ron Kind.
Representative Kind, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) Secretary-designee Brad Pfaff, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation Jim Mulhern, Executive Co-Director of Farmers Free Trade Angela Marshall Hofmann and other Wisconsin leaders, joined local farmers and producers to discuss the importance of ending tariffs and strengthening North American trade relationships for Wisconsin farmers, workers and families.
According to Farmers for Free Trade, nearly 11,000 jobs are supported by Wisconsin agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada, and the state exports $1.4 billion to our neighboring nations annually. Since the Administration’s trade war began in March of 2018, Wisconsin taxpayers have paid $251 million in additional tariffs, and have seen a 30 percent drop in exports subject to tariff retaliation.
This Congress, Rep. Kind has introduced the Trade Security Act and the Congressional Trade Authority Act, bipartisan and bicameral bills that will take Congress’s Constitutionally-granted trade authority back from the Executive branch.
Rep. Kind serves on the Trade and Health Subcommittees on the House Committee on Ways and Means. The Committee is the most powerful – and the oldest – committee in the House of Representatives. It has jurisdiction over trade and tariff laws, and will lead the consideration of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in the House.