"The agreement pulls the rug out from under American agriculture. We have an extraordinary number of unresolved agricultural trade issues outstanding with the EU. Now, we have little or no leverage left with which to find a solution. I'm very disappointed that the administration chose to ignore the challenges facing American farmers in its fervor to ?just make a deal, any deal' with the EU. American farmers can compete for any market, any where in the world, but they must have access to a level playing field. Negotiators who work out of Washington, D.C., would be smart to realize that agriculture is the shining star in the U.S. trade deficit."
In 1996, U.S. agricultural exports reached a record level of $60 billion, compared to a total U.S. merchandise trade deficit of $170 billion the same year. In February, Sens. Grassley and Sam Brownback of Kansas petitioned the U.S. Trade Representative and introduced a Sense of the Senate resolution (S.Con.Res. 73) to require that any comprehensive trans-Atlantic trade pact agreed to by the U.S. government address agricultural issues.