Bush Talks Trade with Agriculture

June 19, 2001

President Bush began a campaign Monday to get Congress to approve trade promotion authority – formerly known as fast-track authority – this year. But before he addressed an East Room gathering of agriculture representatives, a coalition of 78 agriculture groups delivered to him a letter asking the administration and Congress to "restore America's position as the leader in trade liberalization" with TPA approval. Also present were Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

"We commend your agenda that leads the initiative to rebuild the bipartisan consensus that historically has existed for international trade," the letter read in part. "In the absence of Trade Promotion Authority the United States has lost a great deal of ground in the international trade arena. It is time to reclaim that ground and restore America's position as the leader in trade liberalization."

Recently, Bush sent to Congress an outline of his legislative agenda for trade and a formal request for TPA which has not been renewed since 1994. The authority allows the president to negotiate trade agreements that can either be approved or rejected by Congress but not amended. It is widely recognized that without TPA, multilateral trade negotiations, the kind that yield sweeping breakthroughs in market access for American agriculture, cannot take place.

"Trade promotion authority is a critical step to reducing arbitrary trade barriers abroad and increasing export opportunities for American farm products," said Bob Honse, president & CEO, Farmland Industries. "American farm products face an average agricultural tariff of about 62%, while the average U.S. tariff for agricultural products is about 12%. The only way we can reduce these trade barriers for American farm product exports is through new trade agreements and with trade promotion authority."

"The simple fact is that our future depends on expanding U.S. access to foreign markets," said National Pork Producers Council President Barb Determan, a pork producer from Early, IA. "Since 1995, when the Uruguay Round Agreement went into effect, U.S. pork exports to the world have increased 100% in terms of volume and 108% in terms of value. We see tremendous potential in future trade agreements, but without TPA these opportunities will be lost. While we argue over whether to grant the president the right to negotiate for open markets, our competitors all over the world are signing free trade agreements and we are being left behind."

For his part, Bush told the group the job of the administration "must be to open up more markets for ag products ... I want America to feed the world. I want our great nation that's a land of great, efficient producers to make sure people don't go hungry. And it starts with having an administration committed to knocking down barriers to trade, and we are."

The administration wants a new round of World Trade Organization discussions "with ag at its core, and it will be," he added. "I know there are some concerns about NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in the country, but if people look at the statistics, farm exports to Mexico have doubled, nearly doubled, since NAFTA. That's important." Bush also said he believes "we ought to expand the free trade of the Americas. I want this whole hemisphere trading in freedom. And I think it makes sense for our farmers and ranchers to do so."

He said he recognized that farmers face "incredible barriers to trade," among them that the European Union's tariffs for over quota beef are between 91% and 177%, and Japan's tariff for over quota wheat is between 242% and 256%. Canada's tariff on over quota butter is between 299-314%, he said.