Agricultural exports are fast becoming a casualty of the trade war, but a politician from the United States is going against the grain. Steve Daines, a senator from the U.S. state of Montana, has made it his mission to promote American beef in China despite fraught bilateral relations.

While tit-for-tat tariffs between China and the U.S. escalate, Daines led a delegation to Beijing on Tuesday along with Senator David Perdue of Georgia, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to talk about trade. In a display of sincerity to do business, Daines presented frozen steaks to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang back in April.

Fighting for Montana's farmers

Daines is one of the few U.S. politicians who can claim extensive experience in dealing with China. He lived in the country for over five years when he was an executive for Procter & Gamble, after graduating with a degree in chemical engineering. Daines can also boast about his success in negotiating with Chinese entrepreneurs, as he was able to get the country's leading e-commerce platform JD.com to sign a deal back in 2017 worth 200 million U.S. dollars with the Montana Stockgrowers Association to source beef from the state. The senator also helped to ending the decades-long Chinese ban on U.S. beef imports the same year.

With China's rise to become the world's second largest market for beef two years ago, Daines's push seems to be largely a business consideration. "With 95 percent of the world's consumer's outside of the United States, when you think about the future of Montana agriculture, it is in these export markets."

However, Daines said he supports U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts in making trade deals with China.

Montana is also known for being one of the country's top producers of quality wheat, much of which it exports. From 2018-2019, so far, about 698 million U.S. dollars of wheat were exported to Japan, making it Montana's, and the United States', top export destination for wheat. However, Trump has embroiled Japan in one of the U.S.' many trade brawls, causing Daines to take on a tone of urgency. "[Japan] buy(s) Montana wheat because it's the best," Daines wrote, according to a local news station. "I urge the administration to quickly finalize trade negotiations with Japan." 

Roots in Big Sky Country

Daines's relationship with Montana, a state known for its spacious skies and pristine mountains, stretches back five generations. He was born in southern California, but raised in the small town of Bozeman in Montana.

He became politically active at Montana State University in the 1980s, serving as president of an organization for the college's Republicans. Daines graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, and subsequently worked for Procter & Gamble, known for products such as Crest toothpaste and Pampers diapers, during which he traveled abroad to countries such as China.

He participated in the presidential bids of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and Mike Huckabee in 2008, eventually running for public office that year as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. He lost the election, but would succeed in 2012 to become Montana's only House representative. Two years later, he got the state's seat in the Senate.

Conventional conservative

Aside from his drive to bring the state's agriculture to the world, Daines has courted controversy from some of the policies that he supports. 

He is particularly outspoken in his criticism of Democrats proposing programs in what he has called a socialist movement "plaguing the country." He even introduced a Senate resolution condemning this growing movement which he believes is taking hold of the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, he enjoys popularity among Tea Party members, who are considered hardline elements within his own Republican party. It's not difficult to see why they like him – Daines has repeatedly made calls for a balanced federal budget, opposes gun control, and wants to do away with restrictions on energy development. 

When it comes to supporting the Republican president, Daines has stood by Trump during one of the latter's most controversial actions, in which the president called for four minority Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to "fix the broken and crime-infested places from which they came," a statement that has been criticized for its racist overtones.

Daines is up for Senate re-election in 2020, a year when the presidential election will essentially be a referendum on Trump. Voters will decide whether they want another four years of the president's hardline conservative policies and his upending of the multilateral global order. As Senator Daines tries to cultivate a relationship with China amid the trade uncertainty started by Trump, will he succeed because of the president, or in spite of him?

Cover image designer: Li Yueyun

Video editor: Zeng Ziyi