b'Industry Optimistic asBiden Trade Policies Take ShapeDespite making few major announcements since coming to power,there are glimmers of how the new U.S. administration will approach cross-border relationships.Marc ZienkiewiczIN DECEMBERof 2020, Mary Kay Thatcher hadOn April 15, U.S.Trade Representative Katherine Tai some strong predictions for what was to come ingave her first speech as a Biden appointee.light of Joe Biden winning the presidential election. In her remarks, delivered at a Center for American When it comes down to it, I think trade will changeProgress event titled Greening U.S. Trade Policy, Tai drastically, the senior manager of Syngentas federalsaid that protecting our planet would be a top priority government and industry relations told Seed Worldof the administration, outlined some of the historical Group at the time. barriers to action, and called for what she termed inno-Months later, shes not quite sure how those drasticvative, pragmatic and solutions-oriented ideas from a changes are going to play out. range of stakeholders to meet the global challenge.I think it would be too early to say theyve changedThe goal is to ensure that we and our trading part-drastically, and to be honest with you, if you wouldners are engaged in fair competition that does not sup-have asked me six months ago, I probably would havepress environmental protection, she said. The United expected something major to happen by now, she says. States has been, and remains, the leader in rewriting Still, she says, there are some telling signs that ittrade rules so that they move us toward this model of might take a little time to see any dramatic develop- fair competition. ments in the world of trade with the Biden administra-tion at the helm. Trade EvolutionThe biggest holdback is we just dont have veryTai made special mention of the United States-Mexico-many political appointees yet, and that seems odd toCanada Agreement (USMCA) as an evolution of me, when you have a Democratic administration andAmerican trade policy.a Democratic senate that is going to confirm theseAnd while I think the U.S., Mexico and Canada people. You would think it would have happened byshould be proud of USMCAs progress, I know that now, but if you actually look at the charts, Biden isthe agreement does not go far enough in addressing much slower overall at filling those seats than probablythe economic costs of our environmental challenges the last four or five presidents have been.through trade, Tai said. The most glaring omission is At the time of writing, Biden has appointed only athe failure to explicitly acknowledge climate change.fraction of the people he is entitled to appoint to vari- She went on to say climate-friendly and sustain-ous positions within the government. able agricultural production is essential to meeting the Theres about 1,200 political appointees who havecountrys climate and sustainability goals. to be confirmed by the Senate, and so far, theres 33 ofFor Thatcher, its telling that Tais first speech about them. It sits at something like 2%, Thatcher says. trade centered on the issue of climate change as it She believes the administration is taking its time inrelates not only to the United States, but countries vetting potential appointees.around the globe.Bidens been pretty squeaky clean on not acciden- Throughout most of the campaign, President tally putting forward a member that then is going toBiden said he didnt believe you should just go off and get rejected and kind of embarrass the administration. try to negotiate with another country one-on-one to 8/ SEEDWORLD.COMJUNE 2021'