Rep. Collin C. Peterson | March 4, 2004
Dear Colleague,
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations are coming to a boil - numerous countries are demanding major U.S. concessions on agriculture market access and new limits on U.S. domestic farm programs.
U.S. negotiators are going to Buenos Aires on March 9th for an FTAA meeting intended to resolve agriculture issues. Brazil and Argentina are the leading major agriculture exporting nations of the MercoSur, and they are planning to confront the Bush Administration's negotiators with a stark choice: either agree to major agriculture concessions granted in the FTAA or give up on the goal of completing the agreement by the end of the year.
Any compromise acceptable to Brazil and Argentina would have enormous impact on U.S. agriculture policy, and would certainly include these two key demands by Brazil and Argentina: That the U.S. eliminate tariffs for the entire universe of agricultural and industrial goods (USTR has insisted that FTAA tariff elimination apply to "substantially all" products, meaning sensitive sectors to the United States, such as citrus, soy and beef, could be excluded) AND That the U.S. eliminate export subsidies and internal supports in agriculture and/or "neutralize" the "trade-distorting" effect of domestic agricultural supports while exporting these credits through a new compensation system.
If these demands are not met, this Brazil and Argentina led agriculture bloc could conclude that the FTAA has no value to them and walk away from the negotiations. Meanwhile, some U.S. business sectors, including financial services, energy, and construction are exerting enormous pressure on the Administration to make these agricultural concessions in order to bring the issues these other sectors care about back to the table.
The interests of U.S. agriculture should not be sacrificed - again - by the Administration in order to serve the interests of other industries. The desire to obtain an FTAA should not override the interests and livelihood of American farmers and ranchers. Call USTR and USDA today.
Sincerely,
Collin C. Peterson Member of CongressRep. Collin C. Peterson:
