The Iowa senator also asked the Finance Committee chairman to schedule a vote this fall on fast-track negotiating authority for the President. "This could help send a message that the U.S. is serious about liberalizing trade," Grassley said.
The ninth series of multilateral negotiations since 1947 is scheduled to begin November 30 in Seattle with 134 nations represented. Grassley said he convened today's hearing of the International Trade Subcommittee because many members have not seen specific information from the administration about how it plans to handle key agricultural trade issues such as tariffs, domestic support spending and biotechnology.
During the hearing, Grassley featured the testimony of Jon Caspers, an independent pork producer from Swaledale, Iowa. Grassley said it was critical for the President of the United States to have an "aggressive, ambitious trade agenda. International trade is pivotal to farmers' prosperity in Iowa and across the country."
Grassley asked witnesses from USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative how the administration intends to achieve success in lowering agriculture tariff rates and bind them, since the effort to do so in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations failed. The conversion of quantitative restrictions to tariff rate quotas after this last round of talks left many agriculture products highly protected. Tariffs on ag products are three to four times higher than the ten to 15 percent rates for most industrial products. Some of these tariffs reach 200 percent or more.
Grassley also pressed administration officials about challenging the European Union and other nations that heavily subsidize agricultural exports. He asked what leverage would be used to eliminate these trade distorting subsidies, which amount to eight times U.S. levels for our own producers. "The question is, why is the United States hesitant to call for the outright elimination of production-limiting payments when we don't have a single program that currently falls within this category and the EU has huge support programs that are not disciplined by even modest reduction commitments," Grassley said.
Finally, Grassley called on the administration to develop a biotechnology agenda. He said the proposal made by the U.S. in July addressed the critical issue "in only general terms." And Grassley warned that other countries are beginning to support the Canadian proposal to create a working party. "These countries are following Canada's lead because we haven't offered a real alternative," he said.