Rep. Stenholm wants to sugar trade policy negotiated in WTO talks

Food & Drink Weekly, August 11, 2003

Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-TX), the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, told participants at the International Sweetener Symposium in Washington, DC last week that sugar trade negotiations need to be reserved for consideration in the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, and not in the flood of regional and bilateral agreements being pursued by the administration. To make trade agreements effective, he said, they need to be fully enforced and "we need to get serious about export subsidies." He said what a country does internally is its own business, but when exports are subsidized, "that becomes our business." In trade agreements, also, he said market access must addressed. He said our borders are much more open to imports than are the borders of many other countries.

Asked about expectations for the WTO Ministerial in Cancun next month, Stenholm said this will be a point where the trade round will "show movement or not." Again, he emphasized the need to address export subsidies. He indicated he was not that optimistic for meaningful movement from the Cancun ministerial.

As for excluding sugar in regional and bilateral trade agreements, Stenholm said there was ample precedent for this. He cited the U.S.-Canada FTA, the Mercosur FTA between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the European Union's FTAs with Mexico and with South Africa.

Stenholm said that agricultural sectors all over the United States are becoming less supportive of trade agreements because they have not been enforced as they should. "The perception is that we're not tough enough in trade negotiations." Stenholm said the nation is headed toward a "Perfect Storm" as this country buys $500 billion more goods from others than we sell to the rest of the world. He said this imbalance cannot keep up.