TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. farm groups are pressuring president Barack Obama to live up to his promise to give trade a more prominent role in his economic recovery agenda.
They want the president to submit three free trade agreements to Congress for ratification.
Growers say they are losing ground to producers from other countries that are exporting farm products to South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
The National Association of Wheat Growers says ratification of the Colombia pact signed in 2006 is a top priority because the U.S. continues to lose ground in that country to Canada and Argentina.
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U.S. wheat’s share of the Colombian market fell to 46 percent in 2009-10, down from 70 percent in 2007-08. Canada’s share has risen to 33 percent from 24 percent over that same period.
NAWG worries about further deterioration of its market share now that Canada has ratified its free trade agreement with Colombia. Implementation of the deal is expected in early 2011 at which time duties on imported Canadian wheat will fall to zero.
The association said tariffs on U.S. wheat could fluctuate between 10 and 15 percent and move as high as the World Trade Organization bound rate of 124 percent.
“The U.S. wheat industry stands to lose about $100 million a year if we don’t approve the free trade agreement soon,” said Eric Steiner, NAWG’s director of government affairs for farm policy.
“As the U.S. drags its feet, Canada gets to enjoy it.”
Ratification of the Colombia agreement has been held up over environmental and labour concerns in the South American country.
The Obama administration is developing benchmarks for the Colombian government to implement before sending the agreement to Congress.
Steiner is confident Congress would approve all three deals if Obama allowed them to go to a vote.
U.S. secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack anticipates Congress will be presented with the South Korean agreement within the next several weeks. He told reporters that will provide the impetus to get the other two deals ratified.
“It’s really a linchpin to this entire thing,” he said.
But another farm leader isn’t at all confident that the Panama and Colombia deals will get done.
Mary Kay Thatcher, director of public policy with the American Farm Bureau Federation, thinks Obama is throwing his union supporters a bone with the South Korea deal.
“I’ll be amazed if we can force him to send the other two up,” she said.
