Illinois’ agriculture and manufacturing sectors will reap gains from trade deals coming together through the Trump administration, and those deals could pave the way for more agreements with other countries. That’s according to U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria. A leading business advocate says if Illinois wants maximum benefit from such deals, state policymakers should work on the business climate. LaHood visited farmers at the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Thursday to lay out what’s ahead with the trade. He praised the House’s passage of the US Mexico Canada Agreement that’s up for final passage in the U.S. Senate and looked ahead to an agreement with China being signed Jan. 15. “Forty percent of the products we grow, produce or manufacture in Illinois go to Canada or Mexico,” LaHood said. “That’s really going to help our agribusiness industry, our farmers, and help them continue to do well. And on Phase 1 with China, 25 percent of our soybeans go to China every year.” But it doesn’t end there. “What these two trade agreements that we got done under President [Donald] Trump do is they set the precedent for future trade agreements,” LaHood said. “I anticipate with [the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union] going on we’ll have a new trade agreement with England announced in the next six months here. We’ll have a new trade agreement with Brazil in the next six to nine months here.” LaHood said while multinational trade agreements are more efficient, the World Trade Organization needs reform, something he said the president is after. He said trade disputes handled by the WTO get bogged down and take too long to resolve. “The president has had some really good ideas on reforming the World Trade Organization,” LaHood said. “I think if we can do that it’s easier to do multilateral trade agreements but with that, in place, it’s been a hindrance and a deficiency to American products and particularly our manufacturers and our farmers.” While more trade deals getting agricultural and manufactured products exported would be good for the country, Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch warned Illinois could miss out. “Illinois does really well with things that state government can’t screw up: geography, the productivity of its people, transportation, infrastructure, all those things, but that’s mostly things that government has a hard time screwing up,” Maisch said. “But what they can do is affect labor law and tax policy that drives people to other states.” Illinois’ economic growth average has historically lagged behind the national average. Illinois also has been ranked as having among the highest taxes in the nation. The state led the nation in outbound migration in the past decade.
