Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford was on hand Wednesday at the White House when the President reached a new trade agreement with the European Union in an attempt to end a war on tariffs.
“The statement I’ve heard from several folks is that the President has proved he can start afire on trade wars but he hasn’t proved he can put a fire out,” said the senator in an interview with OK Energy Today. “Yesterday was proof he can put a fire out and resolve things.”
With Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission next to him in the White House garden, the president called the settlement a “big day for free and fair trade.”
It means an agreement to end all tariffs on industrial imports from the other side.
“The question has always been is the president wanting high tariffs and maintain that as a trade policy. Yesterday proved he doesn’t want high tariffs as a trade policy long term,” added Sen. Lankford.
While steel companies in Oklahoma have been hurt by the trade war, so have soybean farmers in the state. But under the new deal with the European Union, things could change.
“Soybeans is a big deal,” said the President. “The European Union is going to start almost immediately to buy a lot of soy beans from our farmers.”
The two sides not only agreed to increase trade in soybeans but also in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical products.
