LINCOLN — Nebraska’s longest-tenured member of Congress told a University of Nebraska-Lincoln audience Tuesday that American trade needs a jolt of public interest. 

U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means subcommittee with jurisdiction over international trade, stressed economic importance of trade to Nebraska and the world. U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith talks to people before his Tuesday night speech at the East Campus Union at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

He said his North Star on questions about trade matches that of most farmers, ranchers and manufacturers in his 80-county 3rd Congressional District: “What is the impact on consumers?”

Smith spoke during the fifth annual Clayton Yeutter Institute lecture, named after the late Eustis, Neb., native who served stints as U.S. secretary of agriculture and U.S. trade representative.

People’s opinions on trade

Smith said his district’s perceptions of trade have evolved from some negative views of its value pre-2017 to more mixed now. The 3rd District is the nation’s top agricultural producer.

He credited former President Donald Trump and his work with Congress on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for improving the outlook on trade. 

Smith said he appreciates the U.S. ambassador to Mexico trying to engage the Mexican government to again allow importing American biotech white corn, much of it from Nebraska.

“I would like the president to take to a podium anywhere to say what is happening with Mexico is not right,” Smith said of President Joe Biden. “We need to get this resolved.”

Smith hinted that he still disagrees with Trump that tariffs punish other countries without harming American consumers. He said people typically pay more for goods with tariff protections. But he also described them as a useful tool during trade negotiations that Trump used well and Biden has not.

When Trump pursued tariffs against China, Smith said, it brought attention to the over-reliance on China as a manufacturer and helped elevate national discussions about trade. It helped in direct negotiations with China as well, he said.

To Smith, the answer isn’t raising tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. but building new supply chains with other countries that would welcome the investments and jobs.

“Some say if you give tariff relief, you only help China, but we ought not think we cannot develop supply chains with other friendlier countries,” Smith said. 

Smith: Biden administration too timid on trade

Smith criticized the Biden administration for being too timid in pursuing new trade deals with Congress. 

Ag trade, in particular, ran at a deficit nationally for the second straight year in 2023, which is rare in the modern era. Americans bought $20 million more in ag products from abroad than they sold abroad, the Nebraska Farm Bureau reports.

Experts blame much of that drop on economic conditions abroad, the strength of the dollar and wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Animal feed and fuel had good years in 2023. Most economists expect corn and soybean exports to rebound. The meat outlook is mixed. A corn field in Saunders County, Nebraska, just outside of Ashland grows in midsummer sun. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

“We’ve lost ground,” Smith said. “I’ve gone from describing the situation two years ago as treading water to saying we are taking on water. We should be leading on this.”

He said progress is needed in Asia, where Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with American allies and China is negotiating. And he wants a deal with the United Kingdom now that it has left the European Union. Smith said he would like to see the U.S. focus on trade with Kenya and other African nations where trade improves the quality of life. 

Ukraine aid, 2020 election

Asked about a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Smith, like most of his House Republican colleagues, said it would likely need to include measures that address border security.

“It’s my hope that … if we do this right, it could be bipartisan,” Smith said. “But it will probably need an immigration component. I don’t want Vladimir Putin to win.” Yeutter Institute director Jill O’Donnell introduces Rep. Adrian Smith for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln group’s fifth-annual lecture on trade. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)

A friend of Yeutter’s, Randall Moody, asked why the university would ask a person to speak who voted against accepting the 2020 presidential election results. 

Smith said in 2021 he was not trying to pick a different winner. He said he wanted to air concerns about states that have relaxed their rules for mail-in voting and voter registrations.

UNL spokeswoman Leslie Reed said Smith was invited to speak because of his expertise on international trade and his leadership position on the Ways and Means Committee. 

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