As President Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House, America’s corn refining industry is eager to support his work toward a more prosperous rural America.
The American corn farmer is second to none in productivity and sustainability, regularly leading the world in innovative production practices and the yields that come from their use. Nearly 10,000 Americans work in corn refining, and the locations of the industry’s facilities make it a vital part of rural economies across the Corn Belt.
Like the American economy as a whole, CRA and our members are counting on the president’s success and his astute focus on economic growth. In our view, his success in achieving that growth and strengthening rural economies will depend upon four key steps.
First, Trump’s success in removing excessive regulation is vital. U.S. corn yields are about 60% higher than in the EU, offering a real-world example of the innovation that can happen under a sound regulatory framework. The EU’s hazard-based approach assumes everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Contrast that with the risk- and science-based framework in the U.S., where the probability of outcomes is taken into account and strategies to mitigate risks are deployed.
That difference in approach has allowed American farmers to leverage tools like biotechnology and other innovations that can boost yields while reducing the use of expensive inputs. Differences in regulatory burden are felt not just in corn farming but across the economy. That helps explain why the U.S. gross domestic product per hour worked is 22% higher than in the EU.
Recently, some have argued that the European hazard-based approach to government regulation is the “true conservative” approach. They are eager for the Trump administration to implement radical left schemes, even at the expense of the commonsense regulatory approach President Trump has long pursued. Heavy-handed, big government strangulation of innovation and economic growth is not conservative.
Of course, deregulation does not mean elimination of regulation. Regulations provide such essential assurances as product safety and environmental protection. But a stable, rational regulatory environment should also be friendly to economic growth.
Also critical to the president’s economic success is energy policy. Trump has wisely proclaimed a national energy emergency, but energy dominance requires energy access. Pipelines and electric transmission development have been thwarted by government red tape.
When Trump left office four years ago, the U.S. electric grid had an overall capacity that substantially exceeded peak demand. No more. Recently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission tripled its five-year forecast for peak electric demand, an increase equal to the electric demand of three Californias.
Between 2020 and 2022, Americans experienced a 172% increase in outage minutes compared to a decade earlier, costing the economy an estimated $150 billion annually. More than 70% of U.S. transmission lines are now more than 25 years old, making them increasingly susceptible to failures and ill-equipped to handle additional load and weather-related stresses.
More than a personal inconvenience, the loss of electricity is an economic gut punch. Using food manufacturing as an example, even a brief loss of electricity means operations are halted as plants “dig out” for hours, if not days, to clear their facilities of products ruined by a power interruption. Without bold policy action, America will likely experience rolling blackouts in the next five years. A reliable energy infrastructure is fundamental to economic growth.
The president’s focus on tax policy is another obvious step toward American prosperity. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was signed into law, the American economy has had access to robust pro-growth tax policy, but many of the provisions that have helped boost business and put more money in the pockets of American workers are set to expire at the end of 2025. CRA is eager to assist the president and key lawmakers in Congress in advancing tax policies that promote a strong economy.
Finally, the president is moving to advance trade policy that makes America more competitive, especially against worldwide economic threats. I believe that he can achieve alignment with Canada and Mexico so the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement may be refreshed to form a powerful economic platform to compete with China and other non-market economies. We should look past the dramatic tactics of getting to a deal and focus on Trump’s strategy of opening markets on terms that advance American competitiveness.
The success of the Trump administration in these efforts will reverberate throughout the country, building a strong, pro-growth foundation that will keep rural, suburban, and urban economies strong for generations to come.
John Bode is president and CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, the trade association representing the corn milling industry, and he chairs the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee, which advises the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative on trade policy.