May 20, 1999

The U.S. sugar industry supports free trade because U.S. producers can compete if trade is free and fair, but there's a caveat, too. The United States "must retain at least a minimal sugar policy" such as the current sugar program to prevent foreign subsidized sugar to displace U.S. producers until trade truly is free.

Jack Roney, American Sugar Alliance director of economics and policy analysis, says sugar growers and processors have "serious concerns about past agreements and about the structure of future multilateral or regional trade agreements."

The United States should not "reduce its government programs any further until other countries have complied with their Uruguay round commitments," Roney said, "and have reduced their programs to our level. Nor should the United States agree to expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement to the rest of the hemisphere until Mexico complies with the NAFTA."

Foreign countries should be provided the incentive to reduce their government programs with a U.S. promise to reduce programs further. But any U.S. reductions would come only when other nations have eliminated their export subsidies and state trading enterprises and reduced their internal support and import tariffs to U.S. levels, he said.