WESTERN GROWERS OFFICERS – 2019
RON RATTO, Chairman RYAN TALLEY, Senior Vice Chair ALBERT KECK, Vice Chair CAROL CHANDLER, Treasurer VICTOR SMITH, Executive Secretary THOMAS A. NASSIF, President DIRECTORS – 2019 GEORGE J. ADAM Innovative Produce, Santa Maria, California ALEXANDRA ALLEN Main Street Produce, Santa Maria, CA KEVIN S. ANDREW Vanguard International, Bakersfield, California ROBERT K. BARKLEY Barkley Ag Enterprises LLP,Yuma, Arizona STEPHEN J. BARNARD Mission Produce, Inc., Oxnard, California BARDIN E. BENGARD Bengard Ranch, Salinas, California GEORGE BOSKOVICH III Boskovich Farms, Oxnard, California NEILL CALLIS Turlock Fruit Company,Turlock, California DON CAMERON Terranova Ranch, Helm, California EDWIN A. CAMP D. M. Camp & Sons, Bakersfield, California CAROL CHANDLER Chandler Farms LP, Selma, California LAWRENCEW. COX Coastline Family Farms, Salinas, California STEPHEN F. DANNA Danna Farms, Inc.,Yuba City, California JOHN C. D’ARRIGO D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California, Salinas, California THOMAS DEARDORFF II Deardorff Family Farms, Oxnard, California FRANZW. DE KLOTZ Richard Bagdasarian Inc., Mecca, California SAMUEL D. DUDA Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc., Salinas, California CATHERINE A. FANUCCHI Tri-Fanucchi Farms Inc., Bakersfield, California DAVID L. GILL Rio Farms, King City, California BRANDON A. GRIMM Grimmway Farms, Arvin, California JOHN JACKSON Beachside Produce, LLC, Nipomo, California A. G. KAWAMURA Orange County Produce, LLC, Irvine, California ALBERT KECK Hadley Date Gardens,Thermal, California FRED P. LOBUE, JR. LoBue Bros., Inc., Lindsay, California FRANK MACONACHY Ramsay Highlander, Inc., Gonzales, California JOHN S. MANFRE Frank Capurro and Son, Moss Landing, California STEPHEN MARTORI III Martori Farms, Scottsdale, Arizona HAROLD MCCLARTY HMC Farms, Kingsburg, California TOMMULHOLLAND Mulholland Citrus, Orange Cove, California ALEXANDERT. MULLER Pasquinelli Produce Co.,Yuma, Arizona DOMINIC J. MUZZI Muzzi Family Farms, LLC, Moss Landing, California MARK NICKERSON PrimeTime International, Coachella, California THOMAS M. NUNES The Nunes Company, Inc., Salinas, California STEPHEN F. PATRICIO Westside Produce, Firebaugh, California RON RATTO Ratto Bros. Inc., Modesto, California CRAIG A. READE Bonipak Produce, Inc., Santa Maria, California ERICT. REITER Reiter Affiliated Companies, Oxnard, CA JOSEPH A. RODRIGUEZ The Growers Company, Inc., Somerton, Arizona WILL ROUSSEAU Rousseau Farming Company,Tolleson, Arizona VICTOR SMITH JV Smith Companies,Yuma, Arizona KELLY STRICKLAND Five Crowns, Inc., Brawley, California RYANTALLEY Talley Farms, Arroyo Grande, California BRUCE C.TAYLOR Taylor Farms California, Salinas, California STUARTWOOLF Woolf Farming & Processing, Fresno, California ROBYRACEBURU Wonderful Orchards, Shafter, California
TOM NASSIF | PRESIDENT AND CEO, WESTERN GROWERS PRESIDENT’S NOTES
Musing on the U.S.-China Trade War In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is quoted as saying: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
As a man of faith, I try to incorporate God’s Word into every area of my life. But, imagine the absurdity if we applied this particular Christian tenet to our trade relations with China. Strike that. We have applied this exact modus operandi to our economic relationship with China for decades, and the results have been just that: ABSURD! First, a bit of history. U.S.-China relations were severed in 1949 following the establishment of communist leader Mao Zedong’s People’s Republic of China. In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon took steps to reestablish ties between the two countries, aided by the U.S. ping pong team and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Finally, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter granted mainland China full diplomatic recognition, opening up the channels for formal political and economic activity. In the 40 years since, the U.S. has repeatedly turned the “other cheek” in its trade relations with China, with increasingly lopsided and disadvantageous results. In 1980, the first year under the new diplomatic scheme, trade between the U.S. and China totaled $5 billion. By 2000, when President Bill Clinton normalized trade relations with China, trade between the two countries had grown to more than $116 billion, with a U.S. deficit of nearly $84 billion. Fast forward to last year: total trade between the U.S. and China reached $660 billion, with a U.S. deficit of $419 billion. [Don’t forget, China also became the largest U.S. foreign creditor in 2008, and currently holds $6.2 trillion—yes, with a “t”— of U.S. debt.] Of equal concern, and potentially greater
consequence, in 2015, Beijing launched its 10-year plan to turn China into the dominant global manufacturer of high-tech goods, everything from electric cars to information technology and telecommunications to advanced robotics and artificial intelligence. This Made in China by 2025 policy has only ramped up the long-existing dubious behavior of the Chinese government—often in violation of international trade rules— including, but not limited to, intellectual property theft, discrimination against foreign investments, cyber-espionage, and forced technology transfers. In the face of such absurdity, change was required. At some point, we had to stop turning a blind eye and instead hold China accountable for its foul play. Which is exactly what President Donald Trump did in March of last year. In an act of substantial courage, President Trump announced a series of tariffs on Chinese imports worth $50 billion. As we all know, China responded by imposing retaliatory tariffs of their own, which has since escalated into an overt trade war. When China implemented its retaliatory measures last year, many of them targeting the agriculture industry, I stated in this column that I understood what President Trump was trying to accomplish—to rebalance the scales of trade between the U.S. and China—and applauded the administration for its aggressive posture, in spite of the pain being felt by farmers from across the country. I felt then, and continue to feel now, that American agriculture is a patriotic industry and would be proud to back President Trump in the defense of our nation.
4 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com JULY | AUGUST 2019
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