Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) has introduced a bill to limit how sanctions may be applied to farm products.  The American Soybean Association says unilateral economic sanctions have been "a recurring nightmare for soybean producers."

The United States has imposed unilateral economic sanctions against other countries for foreign policy reasons, in some instances, against countries that were major markets for U.S. farm products.  "In retrospect, this policy now appears to many people in this country, and certainly to the agricultural community, as often unwise and even self-destructive," said Lugar.  "Our experience has been that suppliers in competitor countries quickly filled the void when the United States decided to deny itself market access."

Lugar introduced a bill that applies only to commercial exports, not to food aid or export assistance programs.  The bill would exempt commercial exports of agricultural products from any future unilateral sanctions unless the President makes an affirmative determination that the application of sanctions on commercial exports is required to achieve a foreign policy or national security purpose.

It also would require the President to review current unilateral sanctions on commercial exports of agricultural products to determine if such sanctions remain necessary to achieve those purposes.

The American Soybean Association supports the Lugar bill.  "The use of unilateral economic sanctions by our government has been a recurring nightmare for soybean producers and all of U.S. agriculture for nearly three decades.  Every year, these actions deny U.S. farmers, processors and exporters access to multi-billion dollar markets."