The U.S. is making progress in expanding agricultural trade in Southeast Asia. “In Vietnam, we met with grocery stores that are importing and want to import more American products,” said USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg. “We met with a large soy crush plant, the largest crusher in Southeast Asia, to discuss ways we can see continued growth in the soy crush facilities. We also met with cotton spinners and are working on ways to get more U.S. cotton over there.” In an interview with RRFN, Lindberg said the U.S. is opening the Vietnamese market. “That’s where the value is really derived, building buyer-seller relationships, but also holding those trading partners accountable to the original deal.” Lindberg, who former led South Dakota Trade, has been nominated to lead the World Food Program. The selection process is expected to take several months.
