The chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee (Orrin Hatch, R-Utah) and House Ways and Means Committee (Paul Ryan, R-Wis.) are targeting the end of February to finalize a trade promotion authority (TPA) bill to go to both houses for approval in March.
This legislation gives the president authority with certain specified guidelines to negotiate a trade agreement to be brought back to Congress for final approval without it being amended. It only allows an up or down vote on the trade agreement.
Countries will often not give their bottom-line offers until they know the administration can offer and accept controversial provisions that will not be altered by the Congress. By passing TPA in March or April, it will give the administration the ability to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in three to four months (not likely later than the end of July). This will then give the negotiated agreement the required time under the law to be reviewed by Congress and voted on this year.
Sugar is one of the most sensitive farm product categories that must be negotiated in the agreement. We will be busy during the first half of this year with our agricultural trade negotiators to make sure the agreement is structured in a way that does not harm U.S. sugar policy. We have had repeated commitments by our U.S. trade representative that our sugar policy would not be harmed. Our job is to make sure that is in fact the outcome.
Appropriations
March is always a big month in D.C., because that’s when the Congressional Budget Office provides its baseline of anticipated costs for all federal government programs. Based on projections and parameters laid out by the budget committees, the House and Senate Appropriation committees must make spending priority decisions for programs for the next fiscal year. It will require a great deal of time to get all of the appropriations bills across the floors of both houses. It will consume much of June, July and September. It is when the Agriculture Appropriations bills come to the House and Senate floor for consideration, that opponents of sugar policy are likely to offer amendments to eliminate funding for certain elements of U.S. sugar policy. So we have to be ready for the sugar program to be attacked in both Houses this year at both the committee level and on the floor.
Mexico
The activity surrounding the antidumping and countervailing duty cases and suspension agreements are both complicated and fluid. Unprecedented reviews of the suspension agreements have been demanded by cane refiners, Imperial Sugar and AmCane. Given the legal nature of the proceedings, I can neither speculate nor provide further information at this time. I can reassure you that our legal team and industry leaders are working constantly on this issue.
Congressional Visits
With many new members of Congress and a multitude of staff changes on Capitol Hill, we have a huge educational effort ahead of us. Our annual congressional fly-in visits take place in late February and early March.
Once again beet and cane grower leaders will join forces to visit more than 250 offices in two weeks. The message will be very clear and simple. Our growers are struggling (many losing money on their beets and cane) and taxpayers were harmed because of the damage inflicted by Mexico’s dumping of surplus sugar. We had no choice but to bring our antidumping and countervailing cases which assessed preliminary import duties of more than 50 percent on Mexican sugar. We worked to suspend the duties in exchange for limited imports at minimum-price levels to remove the threat to growers and taxpayers.
But Mexico is not unique in its subsidizing and dumping. All exporting countries into the world market have the similar behavior. To a great extent, Mexico is not an exception to the rule in global sugar trade—it is the norm. That is why we must have a strong domestic policy to defend efficient, globally competitive producers who are threatened by unfair predatory trade practices.
By fixing the problem with Mexico, we have a program that can work effectively and at no cost to the American taxpayer. The sugar industry doesn’t need a handout. It needs a fair shake in international trade. This is why senators and congressmen should oppose any amendments that tamper in any way with U.S. sugar policy. We will also be asking for support of bills in both houses that deal with national uniformity on labeling of food products containing ingredients from biotech crops. We will also be prepared to discuss TPP trade negotiations. Everyone now asks about Cuba, and we will be prepared to explain the collapse of its industry from what it was decades ago.
Internship
Summer internship applications for 2015 are due March 31. Visit www.americansugarbeet.org for an application.