National Journal's CongressDaily | August 8, 2001 | by Jerry Hagstrom
SUN VALLEY, Idaho - Jeff Lang, a partner in the Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering law firm and an adviser to the American Sugar Alliance, told the sugar group's symposium here Tuesday that domestic sugar growers should push U.S. trade negotiators to "modernize" trade negotiations on sugar by emphasizing removal of "domestic distortions" in the sugar industry. The former U.S. deputy trade representative in the Clinton administration said that change should be made rather than allowing the continuation of age-old issues of market access and tariffs. "The U.S. sugar industry is more competitive than most of its foreign competition," Lang said, because the U.S. government intervenes less in the sugar markets than most other governments and also provides fewer protections against competition from both the high fructose corn syrup industry and imports.
Various forms of subsidies "confound the legitimate market expectations of buyers and sellers just as much in import- sensitive industries like sugar as they do in export-competitive industries like aircraft," Lang said. But he argued that U.S. trade negotiators have devoted "no attention" to the issue even though "government intervention distorts sugar trade in virtually every country where sugar is grown." Lang warned the sugar growers that convincing U.S. trade negotiators to take up this cause would be difficult because the users or exporters of sugar have not called for trade reform.
On another panel, Sarah Fogarty, director of international trade for the Grocery Manufacturers of America - which represents food, beverage and consumer product companies that are large users of sugar - said the U.S. market should be open to more imported sugar so domestic users would have access to sugar at world prices and to encourage "expanded market access worldwide for our competitive export commodities, whether pork, soybeans, corn or beef." Fogarty also said the Coalition for Sugar Reform, of which GMA is a member, is opposed to the sugar program in the farm bill that passed the House Agriculture Committee just before Congress began its August recess. It includes restrictions on production through regional marketing allotments for sugar.
House Agriculture ranking member Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, took a hard line on sugar trade issues when he spoke to the group Monday. Stenholm said his message to the Mexican government is that "the side agreement [on sugar] is real." On the stuffed molasses conflict with Canada, Stenholm said he considers the importation of the molasses and then processing it to remove the sugar to be "breaking the rules" of trade agreements."
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