Administration, Agriculture Call for Positive China Vote

May 18, 2000

Members of the Clinton Administration and representatives of livestock and crop producers Wednesday told the House Agriculture Committee how permanent normal trade relations with China would benefit their constituencies. PNTR for China ushers in a new era when access to the Chinese market is eased for nearly all U.S. farm products. The hearing was marred by a bottle-breaking incident and a suicide threat.

REUTERS said police identified the disruptive man as Daniel Chagashvili, an Australian, apparently upset about contaminated soda shipments to Eastern Europe, who broke two large glass soda bottles and held the jagged edges to his head. "He threatened his own life if he was not heard," said Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) who witnessed the incident. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, commerce Secretary Bill Daley and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman were seated just feet from where the incident took place.

After a fierce struggle, Chagashvili was dragged from the room and later charged with disruption of a committee of Congress and assault on a federal police officer. He left behind literature accusing PepsiCo Inc. of distributing 4.3 million bottles of defective soda in Eastern Europe. Larry Jabbonsky, a PepsiCo spokesman, said he knew of no product problems in Eastern Europe, according to REUTERS.

Glickman reminded the hearing that unlike conventional trade agreements, the United States gave up nothing. "All the concessions were made by China, and those concessions are substantial. They have agreed to end export subsidies for agriculture immediately, to improve market access dramatically, to apply sound science in regulatory decision-making and – under an anti-surge mechanism – to allow us unprecedented authority to take action against any import from China that may threaten injury to a sector of the U.S. economy."

John Hardin, Jr., past president of the National Pork Producers Council, testified that over time China will become a significant pork muscle meat importing country. U.S. exports of hams, shoulders, ribs and bellies will become more competitive as muscle meat rices in China begin to increase. Muscle meat prices will rise as backyard farmers migrate to higher paying jobs and as feed grain prices in China increase, Hardin added.

National Corn Growers Association President Lynn Jensen told the committee the most exciting provision for U.S. corn farmers is China’s commitment to eliminate export subsidies. Subsidized Chinese corn exports have displaced U.S. corn exports, he said. "When China eliminates export subsidies, U.S. corn will be very competitive in markets that have been buying subsidized Chinese corn," he said.