China will likely keep targeting America's farmers through tariffs, and the best thing that could happen to help them would be to encourage Congress to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, Marc Short, the chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, said Wednesday.
"The best thing that we can do for them is to continue to open up access to markets," Short told Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria," pointing out that President Donald Trump has been working with Japan and on deals for trade with Mexico and Canada.
"He is trying to lower those barriers to entry so we have more free trade," said Short.
With China, Trump has been "very clear about his position," while other previous administrations have provided China with favorable terms that they also violated.
Short said he wouldn't set an end date for when the issues with China will be solved, especially if that date is next year's presidential election.
Instead, companies are already leaving China and returning to the United States or relocating production to other Asian countries as the pressure grows on China to reach a trade deal and remain committed to it.
"I wouldn't say that a deal is not possible before the election of 2020," said Short. "I think that the pressure this administration, this president has applied to China has put them in a position where they are more anxious to make a deal."
Meanwhile, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer has been in negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats on the USMCA trade deal, said Short, and the Trump administration remains optimistic that lawmakers will vote on the measure this fall.