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Wheat groups grumble over FTA
WASHINGTON (DTN)--Wheat farmers are so disappointed that the U.S.-Australian free trade agreement did not address the monopoly powers of AWB Ltd., they are questioning their leaders' effectiveness on the issue, a key Wheat leader told U.S. chief agriculture negotiator Allen Johnson March 15.
In introducing Johnson to a joint session of U.S. Wheat Associates, the National Association of Wheat Growers and the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee, WETEC Chairman Bruce Hamnes, a Minnesota farmer, told Johnson, "We are very disappointed. Wheat producers are questioning us about ability to communicate our concerns."
The Wheat groups have all said they cannot support the agreement because it did not deal with AWB. A Wheat industry executive said Wheat farmers view the Australian agreement as a "lost opportunity" to reform the AWB. Wheat farmers, he said, are wary of the Australian agreement because they remember that U.S. negotiators did not insist on reforms to the Canadian Wheat Board in the Canadian and NAFTA agreements and that Canadian Wheat imports to the United States have increased dramatically since the NAFTA went into effect.
In his speech, Johnson said Wheat really had not been a "trade issue" in the agreement because the United and Australia are unlikely to sell Wheat to each other. Australia insisted on leaving changes in AWB off the table just as the United States insisted on leaving domestic subsidies off the table in bilateral free trade agreements.
Australia has agreed to "accept" reform of AWB in World Trade Organization negotiations and will be a "reluctant ally" as the WTO attempts to reform other state trading enterprises such as the Canadian Wheat Board, Johnson said.
Johnson also told reporters that Deputy Trade Representative Josette Shiner and Trade Representative Zoellick both are planning trips to China in the near future to discuss trade disputes.
Date: 3/16/04
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