Sen. Grassley issued the following comment about the bilateral market access agreement made by the United States and China. Sen. Grassley is chairman of the Senate International Trade Subcommittee.
"It is encouraging to see President Clinton's determination to achieve a historic breakthrough on market access to China. If the agreement reached by trade negotiators protects long-term U.S. interests, the push for permanent NTR status for China would also be a good time for the president to work for fast-track authority. This would position the president to get the best possible deal for U.S. farmers, workers and companies when WTO negotiations get underway.
"I am cautiously optimistic about today's agreement. It's very good to see elimination of export subsidies for agriculture. But there are still a lot of details we need to look at before we know if the overall agreement benefits the U.S.
"In particular, the phase-in periods for agricultural tariff reductions and the tariff-rate quota system will signal how beneficial the deal is for American farmers. I also will be looking to see the tariff level for specific commodities like pork, corn, soy and soy oil.
"The April agreement was good because it eliminated tariff-rate quotas on soybean oil and stated China's position that sanitary and phytosanitary disputes be settled scientifically. If this agreement reflects the same terms, then it will be a very positive development for U.S. agriculture."