Inside US Trade | Vol. 19, No. 20
More than twenty agriculture groups and agribusiness firms have called on President Bush to leave U.S. trade remedy laws on the table for upcoming multilateral and regional negotiations in an effort to counteract a Senate message earlier this month that U.S. trade laws should not be bargaining chits in trade deals.
Excluding trade remedy laws from the scope of future trade talks would deprive the U.S. of significant leverage as it begins discussions with Europe and Japan about reducing agricultural subsidies in the World Trade Organization and with regional trading partners for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, these groups and firms said in a letter to the Administration.
"Any decision to prevent the United States from even sitting at the negotiating table if trade remedy issues are raised also seriously undermines U.S. credibility in promoting trade liberalization," the May 14 letter said. "We strongly urge you to resist calls for any a priori exclusion of discussions of trade remedy laws in on-going and upcoming trade negotiations."
The letter is largely signed by agribusiness and processor groups, and is not signed by producer groups such as wheat and soybean associations or the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn. Informed sources said wheat producers were reluctant to sign because it could have undercut their argument that the Administration must act in a pending Section 301 case against the Canadian Wheat Board. The Cattlemen did not want to weigh into the debate at this time even though they basically agree with the message of the letter, one private-sector source said.
He hinted that a strong statement was not warranted at this time since the only message on trade law was a May 7 letter from senators urging President Bush not to weaken U.S. trade law in international negotiations (Inside U.S. Trade, May 11, p. 7). If a comparable provision would be proposed on an actual fast-track bill, the Cattlemen would oppose it, according to the source.
The May 14 letter does not include any producers of fruits, vegetables and horticultural products, which face a lot of import competition and have used trade remedy law to protect their interests. These groups were among the agriculture interests that sought to generate support for the May 7 letter initiated by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) among members of the Senate, urging them to oppose any effort to place U.S. trade law on the table for upcoming WTO negotiations.
In an April 30 letter to senators, these groups said that weakening U.S. trade laws would causes "irreparable harm" to U.S. agriculture and food interests.
"A lot of political decisions" went into groups' decisions on whether to sign the May 14 letter against automatic exclusions of trade laws from the agenda, according to a source with the Grocery Manufacturers of America, which circulated the letter for signatures.
The letter does have the signatures of the National Corn Growers Assn., the National Grain Trade Council, and a number of meat producer groups, including the National Pork Producers Council, the National Chicken Council and the National Turkey Federation. Corn growers signed on to the letter because they have "more export opportunities than import challenges," a source for the group said.
The prevalence of processors among the signatories led one agriculture source to charge that the letter reflects their need to have access to cheap commodities for further processing.
But other sources said the failure of producer groups to sign the May 14 letter may not necessarily point to a disagreement with its expressed position. Instead, producer groups may have feared that their local membership would translate the message of the letter as endorsing the weakening of U.S. trade law, sources said. Most of the groups that did not sign agree that the U.S. ultimately will have to put trade remedy law on the table in international negotiations as a bargaining chit, they said.
A GMA source said it was not the point of the letter to weaken trade law but rather to avoid any a priori exclusions, which could lead other countries to take sensitive issues off the table.
Signatories to the April 30 letter seeking to increase support for the Baucus letter included the American Sheep Industry Association, the California Cut Flower Commission, the California Tomato Commission, the California Tomato Growers Association, the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the Cattlemen's Legal Fund, the Grant County (Washington) Cattlemen's Association, the Kansas Cattlemen's Association, the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, the Washington Cattlemen Association, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, the Livestock Marketing Association, the Coalition for Fair Processed Mushroom Trade, the American Mushroom Institute, the Floral Trade Council, the Florida Farmers & Suppliers Coalition, Inc., Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, the Florida Tomato Exchange, the Fresh Garlic Producers Assn., the National Farmers Union, and the National Milk Producers Federation.
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