Market Access, Innovation, Human Rights Focus of Overseas Meetings

Meetings this week in Brussels and Moscow gave me an opportunity to address market access issues for soybean and pork producers in the United States, as well as the need to protect intellectual property rights.  On the trip, made during a week-long Senate recess, I received a briefing on NATO-led efforts in Libya and Afghanistan, discussed anti-corruption efforts of Russian law enforcement in cooperation with U.S. authorities in Moscow, addressed human rights and press freedoms for the Russian people, and discussed U.S. visa requirements for Russian travelers.

As it stands, both the European Union and Russia are imposing non-tariff trade barriers against soybeans and pork produced by U.S. farmers for the export market.  The European Union’s position on soybeans has created uncertainty for farmers, traders, co-ops and processors in the United States.  American farmers need the EU to engage in a dialogue to try to resolve an unfair situation.  Likewise, Russia’s unjustified position against U.S. pork has resulted in Russia’s banning of shipments from plants that account for 60 percent of U.S. pork production capacity.  I delivered a letter on the soybean export dispute to the European Union Directorate General for Trade.  The problem is that the Renewable Energy Directive of the European Union relies on a faulty Brazilian model to establish emission savings.  The EU should use U.S. soybean production and transportation data in calculating the emission savings of biofuels produced from U.S. soybeans.  In addition, the EU directive applies land sustainability guidelines all the way down to the farm level.  Instead, the EU should utilize an aggregate certification approach along the lines of the sustainability requirement in the U.S. renewable fuel standard.

Separately, I delivered a letter about Russia’s unjustified limits on U.S. pork.  Pork products from the United States face an array of what are known as sanitary phytosanitary restrictions by the Russian government.  If Russia is to gain membership in the World Trade Organization, which it is currently seeking, then Russia needs to abandon import restrictions, like this one, which are unscientifically based.  The United States was able to obtain commitments from China and Vietnam to overcome similar obstacles as part of those countries’ accession to the World Trade Organization, and a similar commitment should be obtained from Russia before it is allowed membership.

Russia’s desire to join the World Trade Organization also should help to encourage Russian officials to improve enforcement efforts to protect intellectual property rights, which are important to promoting innovation, creating jobs and advancing economic growth.  The Senate-passed PROTECT IP Act that I sponsored this year with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont provides a model for working to stop online piracy and the sale of counterfeit goods.

In other meetings, I sought more information about possible outcomes for the NATO-led effort in Libya and how military operations have shaped those possibilities.  In Russia, I focused on human rights abuses and efforts by government authorities to restrict media coverage and allow political pressure in the judicial system.

Friday, June 3, 2011