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USTR: Sugar won't be excluded
WASHINGTON (DTN)--U.S. Trade Representative Bob Zoellick told the House Agriculture Committee in late April the Bush administration will not exclude sugar from any more of the bilateral and regional trade agreements it is now negotiating with 22 sugar-producing nations.
Ag committee members urged Zoellick to exclude sugar from the negotiations.
The Bush administration excluded sugar from the Australian agreement on the grounds that Australia is not a developing country and sugar was not vital to the agreement.
House Agriculture ranking member Charles Stenholm, D-TX, who is usually a fan of trade agreements, asked Zoellick if it's "fairly normal" for something to be excluded from those types of agreements.
Zoellick said the U.S. agreement with Canada also excluded sugar, but the U.S. tries to be "comprehensive" so it has more bargaining clout.
He said there was "no way" he could get a Central America Free Trade Agreement that reduces tariffs on other U.S. agricultural products "unless we deal on sugar" and provided a long list of Minnesota agriculture products he said would benefit from CAFTA.
Zoellick said negotiators had "dealt sensitively" with sugar in the agreement.
Rep. Ed Case, D-HI, said sugar should be excluded from the negotiations.
"What are you thinking about doing next on sugar?" he said. "Why not just take it off the table?"
If sugar were excluded again, Zoellick said, other sectors would protest.
"I came under extreme criticism from the rest of the farm community for taking it off in Australia," he said.
Date: 5/12/04
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