Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/1/19

Fresh off a congressional trip to Argentina and Brazil last week, the Minnesota Democrat said he doesn't see China's growing appetite for South American soybeans and other commodities as a long-term threat to U.S. farmers.

"China is in Brazil trying to buy. But from what I can tell, it won't be a long-term thing," Peterson told POLITICO in an interview on Tuesday. "They are just doing it now because they have to. This is all economics. The Chinese don't care. They're going to buy where they get the best deal."

Peterson and a bipartisan group of lawmakers met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Argentine President Mauricio Macri to see what opportunities the Trump administration's trade wars have opened for their country's agriculture sectors.

Peterson said a top concern is whether Brazil's infrastructure improves. Right now, it costs Brazil twice as much to ship soybeans to China than to the U.S., giving American farmers an advantage, he said. But Bolsonaro told him the country is seeking upwards of $17 billion in private investment to modernize roads, railways and ports.

"[Bolsonaro] told us he is happy to have China as a customer, but he is not going to allow China to buy Brazil," Peterson said, noting that the president seemed hostile to foreign investment by Beijing but that he wouldn't rule it out.

Peterson, in a statement issued about the trip later Tuesday, added that it's only a matter of time before Brazil cuts into America's advantages, as President Donald Trump's "missteps" on trade policy are only helping China buy everything the South Americans can grow.