During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. James Risch (R-ID) spoke about political violence and drug trafficking in Mexico.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Glass, I want to start with you.
00:02Are you familiar with the, first of all, my state has a really good relationship with
00:08Japan, and they're a trading partner, they're an important trading partner, we love them,
00:12they love us.
00:13But we've got one problem, potatoes, is somewhat important to Idaho, as you may or may not
00:19know.
00:20Are you familiar with the ongoing fight we've had with Japan over the years on the potato
00:25issue?
00:26I've certainly read about it in the media, and we've had some discussions on that, yes.
00:33You're going to learn a lot more, assuming you're confirmed, which I'm sure will happen.
00:39But that is something that's absolutely critical to us, and it's the kind of thing that causes
00:47countries to get riled up when there's really no reason for it other than pure, unadulterated
00:52protectionism.
00:53Everybody talks about free trade, but then you wind up with rules and regs that dress
00:59up like health issues or something like that, and all they are is protectionism.
01:04So we'll talk some more about that in private.
01:08Any other thoughts you have on that?
01:09I certainly do.
01:11In fact, thank you very much for the question, because I have quite a bit of experience working
01:17with the Department of Agriculture on non-tariff trade barriers.
01:22We were dealing with that in Portugal, actually with soybeans, and it had to do with a very
01:28nuanced regulatory issue up at the EU.
01:33And as we looked into it, it ended up something that we could change, and we did.
01:39And we went from virtually having no agricultural trade between the Portuguese and the United
01:44States to hundreds of millions of dollars of soybeans.
01:48And most of these just take some determination.
01:52It tends to, when you were dealing with great bureaucracies of other governments, especially
01:57with something like the EU, you have to have a bit of patience.
02:03But I'm very determined to take care of any, I mean, being a believer in free, fair, and
02:09reciprocal trade, which is effectively the agenda of the Trump administration.
02:14I will work hard on that, and I take that very seriously.
02:17My mom's family are ranchers and farmers in Pendleton, which is right near the great
02:22state of Idaho.
02:23I was born and raised, and we raised our kids in Oregon, so we're very familiar with working
02:29with agriculture to make that happen.
02:31So I will work directly with your office, if confirmed, and we'll see what we can do
02:36on that.
02:37Thank you much.
02:38Probably been to the Pendleton Roundup.
02:40Many times.
02:41Where the Idaho Cowboys compete with the Oregon Cowboys.
02:47Mr. Johnson, give us some hope here.
02:50I think most Americans are not fully dialed in with the dire, dire situation in Mexico
02:58with violence and drugs.
03:01Their elections last year, there were hundreds, I forgot the exact number, but it's in the
03:06hundreds of candidates who were assassinated simply because they were running for public
03:11office.
03:13This is a tragedy, and it's a code of conduct and a method of doing business that just isn't
03:22acceptable for civilized people.
03:26Mexico has such tremendous potential in front of it with the people they have, the culture
03:31they have, the resources they have, but they got problems with drugs and crime.
03:37Give us some hope here.
03:38What are your thoughts on this?
03:40What do we have to do to help them move forward?
03:42Because we can't do it.
03:45As always, it's going to be up to the society themselves to do it.
03:49Give us some hope here.
03:52Thank you for that question, Senator.
03:54I couldn't agree with you more.
03:57But I have to say I feel extremely positive about the communication that has occurred
04:04between President Chainbaum and President Trump and the actions that we've seen Mexico
04:10recently take.
04:12Two weeks ago today, we had a senior Mexican delegation here in Washington, D.C., and they
04:17met with Secretary Rubio.
04:19I believe the Secretary of Defense was there, and the Attorney General was also there.
04:24And as a result of that meeting, we saw the extradition of 29 criminals that were engaged
04:30in some of the activities that are harming Americans.
04:33And I believe we've seen additional arrests made based on information that was obtained
04:38from them already, and I think we'll see more.
04:43The other thing that occurred back in Mexico is we've seen a tightening of security against
04:49the cartels that has been done by the Mexican authorities.
04:55I'm hearing rumors that some cartel members are reluctant to leave their compound now,
05:01and that's very good news.
05:03I think – and you touched on this – I think our economies are entwined in such a
05:09way that what is good to make America stronger, safer, and more prosperous also holds true
05:19for Mexico.
05:20And I'm encouraged by some of the comments that I've seen out of the Xi'an government
05:24recently, comments she's made herself on prioritizing the relationship with the United
05:30States over that of China.
05:33I think Latin America is beginning to wake up to the fact that China does not have their
05:38interest in mine, and that creates opportunities for us.
05:43Thank you, Mr. Jones.
05:45Appreciate those thoughts.
05:46They've got a long ways to go, and we want to help every way we can.
05:52Mr. Hoekstra, are you familiar with the negotiations that are going on over the Columbia River
05:57Treaty?
05:58Yes, I am.
05:59Yes, I am.
06:00I've been involved in that on a bipartisan basis, and that's an important issue.
06:08My time's up, so we'll talk about it either on the second round, or we'll talk about
06:11it privately.
06:12But it's something that – we need to get that redone.
06:15It's in the process.
06:17It's moving along at a snail's pace, but I think we can get there.