John Block Reports from Washington

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 today’s commentary.

Throughout my lifetime Thanksgiving has been a very important holiday – just behind
Christmas. It is our opportunity to say, “Thank You” to our friends and to God.
The first Thanksgiving celebration was in 1620. Our pilgrims landed on Cape Cod. After their
first harvest, they had a thankful dinner with the Wampanoag Indian Tribe. We have every
reason to be thankful as our nation has grown to more than 300 million people. We are a global
superpower. People from all over the world are scrambling to get to us any way they can.
Now let’s put on the table a few issues of the day. We have finished harvest. Now we need to
ship the grain to customers who need it. Those customers are all over North America and the
world. But a railroad strike is about to shut us down. Our government needs to take this threat
seriously and make sure it doesn’t happen.

Turn to Cuba – only 90 miles from Florida. We have a bipartisan Congressional group in Cuba
this week. We need to expand our exports. I have been to Cuba myself 4 times trying to find a
way to sell more of our ag products. They import most of their food, and as close as we are, we
should be their source.

Last subject – China. In Indonesia at the Group 20 summit President Biden and China President
Xi had their first face to face meeting since President Biden was elected. They talked for 3 hours.
The 2 most powerful nations in the world need to find a way to live together. Russia and Ukraine
are at war. Europe and the US are supporting Ukraine. We don’t want China helping Russia.
Also, we have a list of trade problems with China that we need to resolve. China is our biggest
market for our ag products – grain and meat. Former President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese
goods hoping to reduce our negative trade balance with China. Another concern is China wants
to bring Taiwan under their control. We don’t want that. With the severe clash over politics,
trade, and technology we need to prevent conflict. Let’s find some common ground. Thank you
to President Biden for his effort.

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