Latta: China should fix trade

CELINA - U.S. Rep Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, said it's in China's best interest to resolve ongoing trade disputes with the United States but stopped short of saying how long he's willing to wait for that to happen.

Latta stopped by the newspaper last week for a wide-ranging interview while touring the 5th Congressional District, which includes Celina, Mendon and Rockford in Mercer County.

The world's two biggest economies are locked in a trade war over U.S. allegations that Beijing uses predatory tactics - including stealing trade secrets and forcing foreign companies to hand over technology - in a drive to overtake American technological dominance.

Latta mentioned he represents the state's largest agricultural district that is also home to more than 60,000 manufacturing jobs.

"Statewide it's about every third row of soybeans go to China," he said. "In my district it figures out more to be every other row."

China, Latta said, demands intellectual property from American companies wanting to do business within its borders.

"They're not a fair trading partner out there, but we all want to see that we get this thing negotiated because the president is trying to help farmers on the soybeans side with the payments," he said.

The Trump administration is providing $16 billion in aid to American farmers - on top of $11 billion last year - to offset sales lost after China imposed retaliatory tariffs on soybeans and other U.S. farm products, according to The Associated Press.

"But the one thing I hear from every farmer in my district is they don't want the aid, they want the trade," he said.

Latta said he has emphasized to cabinet secretaries that China gets 55% of its soybeans from Brazil, 33% from the United States and 12% from elsewhere

"We don't want to lose market share," he said. "The thing is we don't want them going out someplace and figuring out how they can buy more from somebody else that would reduce our market share because it's taken our farmers this long to get to that 33%."

Latta said it's in everyone's best interests that a trade resolution is crafted as soon as possible.

"The Chinese have always taken a long view of things in their history," Latta said, noting some believe the Chinese may wait until after the 2020 presidential election to address the trade impasse. "I think for their own benefit they need to come to the table and get this thing done."

"They're talking about sitting down again in September. We just have to see this thing through and get it done. That's the main thing," he continued.

Furthermore, it's important that Congress acts on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, Latta said.  

"On that end, there's some Democrats out there that don't want to see the president get a win, but in this case they shouldn't be looking at it that way," he said. "They need to look at it as it's a win for the American people out there."

Pivoting to other topics, Latta spoke on the recent mass shootings that have shaken the nation. He said various agencies need to ensure information and intelligence available on potentially dangerous individuals are properly processed and made available to law enforcement.

During the last Congress, an additional $75 million was set aside for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, he noted.

"The one shooting in Florida, that young man, they had like over three dozen reports on him - FBI, everything - and nothing was ever done, and so the question is, 'Why wasn't anything done?' " Latta asked.

Tens of millions of Americans safely exercise their Second Amendment right, he continued.

"We had last week a mass murder out in California where a guy with a machete killed four people," he pointed out. "We had 1,600 people killed in this country in knife attacks in 2017. One of the questions that has to be asked is, 'why is this occurring and how do we stop it?' "

On immigration, Latta said the system is broken.

"On the southern border, you have people coming in not just from Central America but other continents … because the word's out the southern border is open and all you got to do is come across," he said. "We've got to change the system how people apply for asylum. They need to do it in their home countries because 90-plus percent of the people asking for asylum are denied it."

Border security personnel are simply overwhelmed by the number of people they're facing, Latta said.

"I support them for what they're doing down there," he said.

Asked how he thought Trump was doing on his campaign pledge to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C., Latta responded by pointing to a strong national economy and low unemployment figures, including those of women and African-Americans.

"(The economy's) taken off because of one thing - it's when we did the tax legislation and we made sure that we brought down the highest corporate tax rate in the world to one that's manageable for companies in this country that they can go out and reinvest, and, sure enough, that's what people have done," he said. "The No. 1 thing that I hear from all my people out there is, 'We just can't find employees.' "

Secondly, Trump has done away with many regulations hindering business, Latta said.

"So we have seen a reduction in regulations in this country which means that companies out there can do what they have to do," he said.

Asked what can be done to calm the level of discourse in Washington, Latta noted that Trump never got to enjoy a honeymoon period as did other presidents. Instead, he was attacked by Democrats before ever taking office.

"It started at 4 o'clock in the morning the day the election results came in," he said.

Still, Latta believes much good work can be accomplished in a highly charged setting.

"We do get certain things done. I serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee. In the last Congress, I think 93% of all the bills that came out of our committee were bipartisan, and we have jurisdiction over energy, telecommunications, health care, digital commerce and consumer protection," he said. "We have an environmental subcommittee and we have an oversight."

Latta pointed to his Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, which the House passed last month, as an example.

"We started working on our own legislation earlier in the year, and we're looking at, good lord willing, that by late fall Americans can actually know … that phone call coming in is not spoofed and it's one that you want to pick up and not going to be some telemarketer in India … where a lot of this stuff is coming in from."

Latta reiterated that policymakers from both sides can get meaningful legislation enacted.

"There are certain things you can work on but unfortunately there's hot-button items that people see over and over and over on TV, that they think that the place is in total dysfunction, but there is some things that can get done," he said.

- The Associated Press contributed to this story