NAFTA, GATT: What Have They Accomplished?
MEXICO —Despite the
Mexican government’s disas
trous attempt to devalue its cur
rency, the U.S. exported
enough com thus far to meet
the annual import quota set
under the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Com exports to Mexico con
tinued to climb after jumping
nearly 25 percent in the first
year of the trade agreement.
Mexico continues to be one of
the top five markets for U.S.
com.
“Even with the peso devalu
ation they’ve made the pur
chases,” said National Com
Growers Association (NCGA)
Chairman Pete Wenstrand.
‘This indicates good, long
term growing demand.”
Wenstrand serves as the
NCGA representative on the
U.S. Feed Grains Council
(USFGC). The Washington
based group, made up of far
mers and agribusinesses, helps
fund foreign export promotion
programs.
“The major impact of NAF
TA has been to settle down a
very volatile market,” said
USFGC official Kent
VanAmburg.
Mexico imported almost 3
billion metric tons, or nearly
117 billion bushels of U.S.
com this year. ’That already
exceeds the quota under NAF
TA for com exports to Mex
ico,” VanAmburg said. The
trade agreement set a quota for
com exports into Mexico. The
quota increases each year until
all barriers are eliminated by
the year 2008.
In addition to the volatile
currency situation to the south,
the testy trade relationship to
the north will challenge the
NAFTA to live up to
expectations.
The U.S. requested the very
first dispute settlement under
the NAFTA with Canada. The
Canadians insist the new Gen
eral Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT) allows a slower
reduction of its agricultural
trade barriers than the schedule
they agreed to with the
NAFTA,
“Wc think they arc wrong,”
said Leonard Condon, a deputy
to the assistant U.S. Trade Rep
resentative (USTR) for Agri
cultural Affairs.' More than half
of the U.S. com crop is used to
feed livestock. Canada claims
it can limit imports of U.S.
poultry, dairy and other prod
Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October u, IES-wyai
(D®3M mm mm
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWTHS ASSOC. INC.
ucts at a higher rate under the
GATT than under the NAFTA.
Condon said settling the
matter with Canada could take
up to six months. “We think
this is an important case to see
if the dispute settlement pro
cess actually works,” he said.
Members of NCGA worked
with the Clinton administration
and fought ham to win passage
of NAFTA and the GATT in
the U.S. Congress. Implemen
tation of the GATT may be as
long and arduous as its negotia
tion and approval by the admi
nistration and Congress.
“The agreement was only
implemented for most coun
tries on Jan. 1, including the
U.S.. and for others, not until
July 1,” said Condon’s boss,
Deputy USTR Suzy Early.
Already the USTR has ini
tiated an investigation into how
the European Union calculated
its first reduction of agricultur
al trade barriers it agreed to in
the GATT trea;y.
Existing EU trade barriers
must be converted to import
tariffs and then ratcheted down
over a period of time.
“There have been some
problems in the way they’ve
structured their tariffs,” said
Bob Spitzer of the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Foreign
Agricultural Service (USDA
FAS). “There is a question of
whether or not they’ve priced
us out of the market again.”
But the EU must also reduce
export subsidies used to under
cut export competition from
the U.S. and other countries.
NCGA Chairman Pete Wen
strand thinks the world trading
system would be in peril if
there were no constraints on
the Europeans. “The GATT
improves the trade dispute set
tlement process,” he said.
“Even though everyone wants
more open trade, there still will
be disagreements.”
Farm Safety
CARGILL, INC. of Marietta would like
to alert all farm families to the poten
tial dangers of farming In the 1995
crop year. Promote farm safety aware
ness to your children and whole
family!! I
Farm safety 4 Just Kids Is being spon
sored by Cargill and other agricultural
companies to prevent farm-related
childhood injuries, health risks, and
fatalities. Anyone interested in learn
ing more or joining this movement
should contact the
Marietta Office at
1-800-822-0769.
e CARGILL
CARfS