U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) recently urged the president to push for favorable pulse crop provisions during ongoing trade negotiations with India.
“Unfair Indian tariffs on pulse crops have substantially harmed our producers back home,” wrote Sen. Daines and U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in a Feb. 19 letter sent to President Donald Trump. “As a result, U.S. pulse crop producers face a significant competitive disadvantage when exporting to India.”
According to the lawmakers’ letter, Montana and North Dakota are the number one and two producers, respectively, of pulse crops in the United States, with India being the world’s largest consumer of pulse crops, the most common being lentils, chickpeas, dried beans, and peas.
“At a time when many producers have been struggling to make ends meet, your work to expand market opportunities for U.S. farm commodities has been critical,” wrote Sen. Daines and his colleague.
The senators asked Trump to engage India’s Prime Minister on pulse crop tariffs as part of larger discussions around economic cooperation between the U.S. and India, which they said “would be mutually beneficial to American producers and Indian consumers.”