Press Releases

Today, Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) participated in a House Ways and Means Committee hearing with United States Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer on the status of U.S.-China trade talks. At the hearing, Congressman Arrington highlighted the role of food, fuel, and fiber production in West Texas and asked Ambassador Lighthizer about ongoing discussions with China to open more markets for U.S. agriculture producers.   CLICK HERE TO SEE CONGRESSMAN ARRINGTON’S FULL REMARKS “West Texas is the food, fuel and fiber capital of the United States of America. We feed and clothe the American people, we fuel the American economy, and we provide energy independence and food security. I'm proud to represent our hard working farmers and ranchers,” said Arrington. “But times are tough and nobody knows about China’s bad actions and unfair trade practices better than our farmers out in West Texas, especially our cotton farmers. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a decline of over 50% in farm income in the United States agriculture industry, the steepest decline since the Great Depression. But in spite of that, our farmers and ranchers stand with this President 100% and they know that he’s fighting for them. “When you fly into Lubbock International Airport, you fly into the largest cotton patch in the world. We produce about one-third of the cotton we export out of the United States. But we’ve lost about 50% of our market share to China and it’s a big market. We want reforms; we want equitable, reciprocal, and enforceable structural reforms that you’ve talked about, and we want that for every American job creator, manufacturer, and producer.”   Background: In 2017, the state of Texas exported $264.1 billion of products, the most of any state in the nation. Texas is also the nation’s largest exporter of farm products, leading the nation in cotton, cattle, hay, sheep, goats and mohair production. Texas leads the nation in number of farms and ranches, with 248,000 covering 130.2 million acres. In addition, one out of every seven working Texans works in an agriculture-related job. In August 2017, Ambassador Lighthizer initiated an investigation of China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine “whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” On February 24, 2019, President Trump announced he was delaying a rise in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that was scheduled to go into effect on March 1 while trade talks continue.