As Kansas economy recovers from COVID-19, international trade is important, Estes says
As the Wichita and Kansas economies recover from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, international trade will be important, Rep. Ron Estes said Wednesday.
The Wichita congressman was a speaker in a virtual town hall hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition on Wednesday. The town hall addressed global leadership from the United States, COVID-19 and the impact on Kansas
Jason Gross, the executive director of the Global Leadership Coalition, moderated the event. He pointed to aircraft and wheat exports from Wichita and Kansas that go to emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. He asked Estes how the economic recovery is tied to international trade.
“COVID-19 has created such a disruption,” Estes said, pointing to shortages of certain items at grocery stores at the start of the pandemic and coronavirus clusters at Kansas meatpacking plants. “We as a state, and in general the United States, have benefited so much from free and fair trade.”
A USGLC slide show before the town hall started showed that more than one in five American jobs are tied to international trade. It added that the more than 9,500 international students at Kansas colleges and universities add $260 million to the economy.
Gross asked Estes “why is it in our interest locally to fight infectious diseases around the world?”
“Looking at the virus and the impact,” Estes said, “... we need to do a better job looking, not just domestically, but also globally, at what we do. And what is highlighted is that not just other countries but also the United States were in some ways very unprepared (for COVID-19).”
He said the country and many states “had the rudimentary basics there, but we actually didn’t follow through,” pointing to supply issues with the Strategic National Stockpile.
“When it came time to needing to utilize those, (we) discovered that in different states and in the nation’s federal government that (supplies) hadn’t been replenished due to budget cuts, due to lack of foresight and fore-planning.”
Estes highlighted work by private businesses to help manufacture supplies, including ventilator production at Wichita aerospace manufacturing company Spirit AeroSystems.
He said that once the medical emergency has passed, government officials should consider what lessons were learned. He pointed to supporting the strategic stockpiles and examining laws “that were set up to address the 1700s and 1800s and epidemics like yellow fever.”
“And how do we handle hot spots and how do we make sure not just ... how do we quarantine ... but also provide economic relief,” Estes said.
He said he is optimistic about the pandemic and “I think we’re headed in the right direction,” pointing to ongoing vaccine development and improvements in treating COVID-19 patients.
Gross said the pandemic highlights the importance of global food security. Kathyrn Unger, Cargill’s vice president for North America government relations, said foreign aid from private businesses and the U.S. government can help Americans and “ensure that our farmers and ranchers have a market in which to sell their product.”
A video of Cargill employee and Air Force reservist Sam Barringer was played at the town hall.
“I’ve learned that if we have to get into a gun battle, we make 200 enemies,” Barringer said. “However, if you go into a region and feed their families, you make 200 friends.”
Gross said “COVID-19 has exacerbated instability in fragile states” around the world and that the pandemic heightens national security challenges. Estes said addressing global humanitarian issues can improve national defense and global security.
“Instability relating to the pandemic creates opportunities for folks who want to cause mischief, want to cause trouble, who have evil intent in their plans, to take advantage of,” Estes said. “There’s a lot of strength and power that we have on the military side, but we can’t lose sight that, in some ways, part of the best defense ... is working on the front end to build those relationships.”
Unger said many conflicts are fueled by famine and food insecurity. By addressing world hunger and instability while promoting economic development “we create more customers for our (agriculture) companies and producers here.”
“Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States, so if our farmers are going to have markets to continue to grow so that we have somewhere to sell all this wonderful produce and other product that we make better than anyone else, we need to make sure that we’re helping to take care of those economies.
“It’s not just the right thing to do. It’s a win-win for all of us.”