Barrasso secures commitments on soda ash, beef and energy exports from ambassador to Japan nominee

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) questioned William Hagerty, President Trump’s nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, on soda ash, beef exports and energy security. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held Hagerty’s confirmation hearing today.

On Soda Ash:

“The United States is the most competitive supplier of soda ash in the world because of the abundance of the raw material trona in our country.

“U.S. ‘natural soda ash’ is refined from the mineral trona. The Green River Basin in Wyoming has the world’s largest-known deposits of this naturally occurring trona.

“American sod...