A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 18, 1987
This year the Congress will be con
sidering some major changes in U S
trade legislation Such action is aim
ed at opening foreign markets to more
goods made in America We support
efforts to strengthen U.S. laws deal
ing with unfair foreign trade prac
tices While we believe the focus of
trade legislation must be to expand
exports, we must oppose imports of
products that compete unfairly with
domestic agricultural markets At
present, there are provisions propos
ed that would close some American
markets to imports Because of this,
some experts say that we have mov
ed into a protectionist attitude unseen
since the 1930’s
Much pressure is being placed on
Congress by labor and the industrial
lobby’s which have been severely af
fected by the imports over the last
decade. Most of their competition
comes from just a few countries. On
the other hand, agriculture has seen
imports flooding the countr> from
nearly every nation of the world,
many of which have subsidized their
agricultural production American
farmers can compete with other
farmers in the world, but not against
the treasury of other nations
Foreign dumping or subsidizing
should be firmly dealt with by com
pensatory import restrictions to pre
vent injury to domestic producers
The current law provides neither an
efficient nor effective way to deal
with unfair practices Nor does it
establish deadlines The present law
allows foreign countries too lengthy
a time to respond to U S complaints,
which in many cases drag out for long
periods of time, and require costs that
become prohibitive for some in
dustries. However, we believe that
these deadlines should be imposed on
all nations through GATT (General
Agreement on Trade and Tariffs),
rather than legislatively
Currently some members of the
Congress would like to impose man
datory retaliation against some coun
tries through an elaborate scheme of
requiring a foreign country with an
“excessive” trade surplus with the
U S to reduce that surplus according
to a prescribed numerical formula and
timetable or face unilateral and
across-the-board U S retaliation
The U S runs trade surpluses in
agriculture with most countries in the
world and the type of rationale em
bodied in this provision could be us
ed against our farm trade Additional
ly, this is a dangerous provision since
it takes trade sanctions totally out of
the normal rules of GATT and opens
the door to retaliation GATT does
Fifth CRP Signup Scheduled
The United States Department
of Agriculture has announced a
fifth CRP signup period beginning
July 20, and ending July 31. For
any particular land, producers may
bid for either of the following, but
not both on the same area:
—A 1987 contract to be effec
tive beginning the date a CCC rep
resentative signs the contract.
—A 1988 contract to be effec
tive beginning the latest of the
following:
1. October 1, 1987.
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THE FARMERS’ VIEW
U.S. TRADE LAWS:
Keep America Competitive
provide the forum for discussing and
resolving trade problems among the
nations involved
Several times in the past few years,
the President has been called on to
impose restrictions on trade The vast
majority of import relief cases,
whether involving fair or unfair
foreign trade, deal with industrial
products Mandated U S retaliation
is most likely to result in foreign
retaliation against U.S farm exports
In cases where retaliation has been
used it has seldom resulted in a
resolution of the problem, rather, we
have seen counter-retaliation
We believe that each situation
should be judged on its own merits
Too often foreign policy considera
tions have gotten in the way of U S
economic interests in trade cases We
believe that the President must be
given the discretion to consider the
overall effect of retaliation on other
sectors, world markets, and on the
economy as a whole Mandating
retaliation could be devastating in
some instances Additionally, any
form of import controls or easing of
injury requirements under Section
201 of the Trade Law could impact
the economy as a whole Section 201
of the U S statute that allows tem
porary import controls when U S in
dustries or producers are being in
jured by increased imports, even if
no unfair trade practice is involved.
It is not in the interest of U S
agnculture to expand significantly the
ability to restrict imports without
establishing the existence of an un
fair trade practice Any widespread
use of Section 201 would tend to
result in foreign retaliation against
U S farm exports
A major concern of the agricultural
community is the need for a system
that would allow relief within seven
days where the product is a perishable
commodity Commonly called “Fast
Track” legislation is needed to
speed up the process required when
a foreign nation is dumping on U S
markets a product which is a
perishable commodity and is being
harvested at the same time m this
country
Probably one of the most important
provisions affecting agriculture is the
issue of “Producer Standing" in
trade complaints It is important that
agricultural interests be allowed to
petition for relief from unfair imports
of products processed from
agricultural goods, if, there is a con
tinuous line of production and the
product is not substantially altered,
and if the agricultural producer has
a substantial economic interest in the
processed product
2. Date the 1987 crop is
harvested.
3. Date CCC representative
signs the contract.
Maximum acceptable rental
rates will again be established by
the Secretary of Agriculture as
soon as possible after all offers
have been evaluated at the national
level.
If you are interested in this
10-year program, please contact
your county ASCS office.
The proposed amendments to the “unreasonable” trade acts, thus bog- We also remain opposed to protec
current trade law have attempted to gmg down meaningful trade talks. tiomst provisions that would result in
oand the definition of The export outlook for U S retaliation against U.S farm exports
“unreasonable” trade acts to include
the denial of certain workers’ rights
and requiring the negotiation of this
issue m future international trade
talks We oppose the attempts to im
pose our standards on foreign coun
tries International disputes are
already rampant and such a move
would allow each country to deter
mine what they think are
1987 NWRA Sanctioned Professional
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agriculture is finally improving Our
export volumes and market shares
around the world are expected to in
crease this year for the first time since
1981 This growth is critical to the
well-being of the farm sector
We recognize the need to review
our current trade law and to make the
changes which will provide protec
tion for our agricultural producers
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The Farmers' View is a column
that is compiled by the Public
Relations Division of the Penn
sylvania Farmers' Association
(PFA). It expresses the views of
PFA 's policy positions on key
issues as adopted by the
organization's 23,443 family
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