The United States Trade Representative (USTR) held a public hearing Tuesday to hear comments on whether a Section 301 investigation should be made into China’s commitments made as part of the 2020 Phase One Agreement, and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) testified with a resounding yes.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper said a thorough investigation into China’s prejudicial trade actions with American agriculture is “justified and necessary” and that the ethanol industry has been substantially impacted as a result. Prior to the agreement, China was the top export market for U.S. dried distillers grains and one of the largest export markets for U.S. ethanol.

“China’s failure to fully implement the Phase One Agreement has resulted in lost market opportunities and significant financial losses for U.S. ethanol producers and the farmers who supply grain to our member companies,” said Cooper in his testimony.

“China reneged on its commitment to meaningfully increase purchases of ethanol and distillers grains in 2020 and 2021 and entirely failed to address the structural barriers that hindered our industry’s long-term access to the market,” Cooper said. “Instead, China erected new barriers that were even more punitive to U.S. ethanol and distillers grains, completely shutting American-made ethanol out of the market over the past four years.”

Cooper is confident the Section 301 investigation will provide indisputable evidence that China’s unfair policies have severely injured U.S. ethanol producers and farmers. “Thus, we support USTR and the Trump Administration taking action to ensure U.S. producers are protected against the deleterious effects of China’s failed trade policies.”
Read Cooper’s testimony here.