Iowa’s two U-S senators hosted a send-off reception in Washington D-C for Ambassador Terry Branstad, who will leave soon for his new assignment in China. There’s much talk about the potential progress Branstad could bring in relations and trade between the nations, and Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s a believer.
Long before Xi Jinping became the leader of the planet’s most populous country, he visited Iowa in the mid-1980s, toured several farms and met then-Governor Branstad. The two have remained closely acquainted over the decades and Grassley says that’s a huge advantage for Branstad as the incoming U-S ambassador.
Grassley reminds, ambassadors are diplomats, not elected officials, and they don’t really have “power” in terms of political clout, but they certainly have in-roads and influence.
