Exciting Week

December 19, 2019

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary –

Just when I had concluded that we couldn’t get anything done here in Washington, everything happened at once.

We have a trade deal with China. According to the Washington Post “China will spend $50 billion on US farm goods, tightening its intellectual property protections and opening its financial services markets.” In return we did not impose new tariffs that were scheduled to be imposed last Sunday, and we reduced the ones that are in place. Keep in mind this agreement is just the first stage of continued negotiations. There is more to be done. This positive news is very exciting. Soybean prices are up and so is the stock market.

Also, on trade -we are going to get a vote on USMCA. Mexico and Canada are our 2 biggest farm markets. Looks like we will get that trade agreement passed. That was one of President Trump’s highest priorities when he ran for election. Another surprise is how hard the Congress is working to avoid a government shutdown. Maybe we won’t need another continuing resolution. Perhaps the Congress is coming to realize that the public doesn’t have any confidence in them. 2020 is an election year. Maybe they should get something done.

Democrats in Congress are voting to impeach President Trump this week. They are in a rush to get the impeachment circus over with. The Senate trial will be in January. The Republican controlled Senate will not vote to impeach.

It’s almost Christmas. Time to celebrate. The conservative party in the UK is celebrating. Their candidate Boris Johnson delivered a humiliating defeat to the British Labor party. The Labor party has shifted far to the left on so many issues like taxes, free this and that for everyone. That is where many of our Democratic presidential candidate have moved. I don’t think our blue-collar workers here in the U.S. will accept such liberal policies any more than the British working class. That should worry the Democratic party as we look toward our next election.

Until next week, this John Block reporting from Washington, D.C. If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go on-line to www.johnblockreports.com.