One Republican U.S. Congressman believes a new trade deal will help Iowa farmers.

Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Steve King says the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA) will improve grain markets and exports, and especially the hog industry.

“If we get USMCA done it’s worth $10 a ham to them, not a hog, but a ham to them going into Mexico alone, which adds up to millions and millions of dollars.”

The House passed the agreement last month and King voted in favor of it. King points out if USMCA is approved, it will also help the chinese trade negotiations. He says phase one, which includes agriculture products, was preliminarily agreed upon by China and the U.S. King talks about his conversation he had with the U.S. lead trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer, which could mean even more positive news for pork producers after the Chinese pork industry took a hit with the Asian Swine Flu.

“The market over there, they’ve got a voracious appetite for pork. That, he (Lighthizer) expects there to be a tremendous amount of pork to pour into China out of the United States, and of course I believe that. Also, along that our grain products will be ramped up substantially.”

King adds, the most important part of getting a new China trade agreement finalized is the issue with the Chinese stealing U.S. intellectual property.