Wendong Zhang, assistant professor, was quoted in a Jan. 31 Yahoo Finance story, "Democrats Claim the Economy Needs Work. Here's a Breakdown of the Early Primary States."
“Many farmers view this as a short-term pain, long-term gain phenomenon, hoping that this will result in a structural reduction of trade barriers in dealing with China,’’ Wendong Zhang, co-founder of Iowa State University’s Center for China-US Agricultural Economics and Policy said of their support of the trade war. “And that there will be more and greater amounts of products going to China at the end of this.”
Zhang was interviewed for a Feb. 3 Radio Iowa story, "ISU economist has unique view on China and coronavirus outbreak."
“Most people in Iowa and across the U.S. never even heard about the city — but that city is actually is home of 11 million people — that’s how big China is,” Zhang says. “…there’s a hundred million people who share my last name — that’s how big China is. That’s how big China is. That’s one of the reasons we are talking about China and demand.” He says the coronavirus could cause issues with carrying out the trade agreement with China.
“There are significant challenges logistically in terms of meeting the targets outlined in the baseline trade deal. Especially when you think the soybean export season is November to April. We will likely see the virus stay there for an extended period of time. We likely won’t see that go away until May,” Zhang says.