Rep. Smith to deliver Feb. 20 lecture on international trade

Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District will deliver a Feb. 20 presentation at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln highlighting challenges and opportunities in international trade as the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance marks its fifth anniversary throughout this academic year.

The Yeutter Institute Five Year Anniversary Lecture with Smith will be 5 to 6 p.m. in Great Plains Room C in the Nebraska East Union. The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be livestreamed from the Yeutter Institute website.

Smith, who has represented the 3rd District since 2007, has long focused on international trade issues. He is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Trade Subcommittee and the senior member of Nebraska’s congressional delegation.

Smith’s lecture is the public portion of a series of Yeutter Institute student events during the week of Feb. 19, with a focus on the institute’s trade minor. The minor, open to all Husker students regardless of their major, introduces students to the multidisciplinary nature of trade issues and is tailored to the student’s individual needs.

Smith, a past Nebraska state senator from Gering, is co-chair of the U.S.-Japan Caucus in the House. Last month, he and three other House members announced the creation of the bipartisan Congressional Agricultural Trade Caucus. The caucus aims to advance and promote policies vital to U.S. agriculture, including boosting agricultural exports, facilitating food and agriculture trade and knocking down unnecessary trade barriers.

The Yeutter Institute began in 2018 and is headed by Jill O’Donnell, the institute’s Haggart-Work Director. Cheyenne Gerlach is the assistant director.

The institute’s interdisciplinary approach fits in with the example set by Clayton Yeutter, a native of Eustis, Nebraska. Yeutter (1930-2017) earned three degrees from Nebraska: a Bachelor of Science, a law degree, and a doctoral degree in agricultural economics. His career encompassed the private sector, as president of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, as well as agricultural economics and government service, as U.S. secretary of agriculture and U.S. trade representative.

The Yeutter Institute couples its multidisciplinary approach with extensive engagement with trade professionals. Since 2018, more than 80 outside trade professionals and experts have participated in the institute’s programming through on-campus conferences and student events, as well as webinars and podcasts.