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May 4, 2001

Stallman urges Congress
to bolster ag trade support

Congress needs to "once and for all open new markets" by increasing funding for export programs and food aid, securing trade promotion authority and reforming sanctions policy, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman told the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 25.

Stallman said granting the president trade promotion authority (fast-track negotiating authority) is significant "in order to improve our access to world markets and correct the trade inequities now facing our sector." But he warned that such authority "should not include labor and environment provisions that use trade as a weapon."

The rice and cattle producer said it is important that growers have the same access to foreign markets that international competitors have to the U.S. market. He urged the development of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would "create an open market of 34 countries."

"Producers from these countries already enjoy significant access to our market and also compete with us in the international marketplace," Stallman told the committee. "It is imperative that U.S. producers begin to enjoy access to the FTAA markets on equal terms."

The farm leader urged a "single undertaking approach" for the launch of World Trade Organization agricultural negotiations. Under that approach, all elements of the negotiations are concluded and implemented simultaneously. Farm Bureau-supported objectives for the trade talks include the elimination of export subsidies, substantial reductions in tariffs worldwide, adoption of an equitable approach to domestic support spending and the conclusion of negotiations on export credits in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Farmers are eagerly awaiting the completion of China's entry into the WTO, but all remaining issues must be resolved before China's membership is complete, Stallman told the committee. He said the United States must ensure that China complies with the bilateral agreement that calls for China to import more U.S. wheat, meat and citrus products.

Stallman also called for the resolution of a number of outstanding trade disputes including the European Union ban on U.S. exports of hormone-treated beef. "Because the EU has not complied, the list of European products subject to retaliation should be immediately rotated and continue to carousel in accordance with U.S. law until a solution to this long-standing dispute is imminent," he said.

In addition, biotechnology remains a top trade concern for U.S. farmers, Stallman said. Farm Bureau supports "the establishment of an interagency committee to address biotechnology matters in a coordinated fashion" and urges the United States to "forge stronger alliances with its international allies on this issue, thereby depolarizing the U.S.-EU biotechnology debate."

Stallman also addressed the trade title of the next farm bill, calling for funding increases up to WTO limits for export-related programs, such as the export credit program, the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development program, and food aid initiatives.