USDA’s foreign chief, a Nebraska native, touts Asian free-trade pact

NO fast track. NO TPP!!!!

http://www.omaha.com/money/usda-s-foreign-chief-a-nebraska-native-touts-asian-free/article_f1dbff1c-5cc5-5280-9456-8767f02e14ab.html

POSTED: THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 1:00 AM
By Russell Hubbard / World-Herald staff writer

The Nebraska native who heads the U.S. Agriculture Department’s foreign service was in the state Wednesday to support an in-the-works trade pact that would lower barriers between the United States and 11 other nations, mostly in Asia.

Phil Karsting is the administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service, which operates trade offices worldwide to aid U.S. exporters. A native of Webster County, he grew up working in his parents’ farm-supply company and has been a Washington-based congressional aide, staffer and civil servant for more than 20 years.

Lowering import tariffs on U.S. agricultural products such as Nebraska corn, beef and soybeans would help the state and U.S. economy, Karsting said Wednesday during an interview in Omaha.

Even as is — with import tariffs making U.S. goods more expensive abroad than they otherwise would be — Nebraska exported $3.9 billion in goods to the Asian countries that are part of the proposed free-trade pact.

FULL story at link.



Phil Karsting