[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1317-S1318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Jamieson Greer

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday evening, we invoked cloture on 
the

[[Page S1318]]

nomination of Jamieson Greer to be U.S. Trade Representative.
  Mr. Greer is admirably qualified for this position. He spent most of 
his career specializing in trade law and has extensive international 
experience. He served as a missionary in Brussels, received a master's 
degree from two Paris institutions, served as law clerk for the 
European Court of Justice, and was stationed in both Turkiye and Iraq 
as a member of the Air Force. Most significantly of all, he spent 3 
years of the previous Trump administration serving as Chief of Staff to 
then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who spoke highly of 
Mr. Greer's work. He is, in short, very well prepared for this role.
  One of my top priorities when it comes to trade is expanding 
opportunities for our Nation's agriculture producers, like the many 
farmers and ranchers in my State of South Dakota.
  The Biden administration frequently seemed to have no interest in 
trade beyond negotiating on climate and labor issues. Witness the fact 
that there was not a single FTA negotiated during the Biden 
administration--not a single one--with all the opportunities across the 
globe to enter into trade agreements to open up and provide access to 
America's farmers and ranchers and small business people. Well, that 
was a real disservice to America's ag producers and to our small 
businesses.
  Trade is critical to the continued success of American agriculture. 
Twenty percent of U.S. ag products are exported yearly, and exports 
provide substantial farm income. Soybeans and corn alone accounted for 
22 percent of all U.S. exports by value in 2024.
  Thanks, in part, to the Biden administration's almost complete 
inaction on trade, the current agricultural trade deficit is at an 
alltime high. That is an area of our economy where we have always run 
trade surpluses historically. Consistently over time, decade after 
decade, we had always run trade surpluses in agriculture until the last 
few years under the Biden administration, when we started racking up 
not only deficits but now record trade deficits. They are at an alltime 
high. I have to say that is a real problem for our ag producers, 
especially considering the other challenges that they have been facing, 
and it is something that needs to be addressed.
  I know that the Trump administration is committed to meeting the 
needs of farmers and ranchers, and I am looking forward to working with 
Mr. Greer to expand opportunities for our agricultural producers.
  I am very encouraged by the fact that Mr. Greer has expressed his 
commitment to working closely with the Senate Finance Committee, of 
which I am a member, and with Congress.
  President Biden's Trade Representative was completely uninterested in 
working with Congress. So it is very encouraging to hear of Mr. Greer's 
commitment to communication and collaboration.
  I look forward to a close partnership between the administration and 
Congress in the coming months and years, as we work to expand 
opportunities for American producers.