Columns:: Worth Repeating

since 12/15/98

Columns::August 27, 2001

Worth repeating

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman gave the keynote address at the symposium on the future of agriculture earlier this month. Some highlights:
“Of paramount importance to American agriculture is access to world markets. Steadily expanding foreign demand—brought on by income gains, trade liberalization and changes in the global market structure—has helped U.S. exports double over the past 15 years to $53.5 billion in the current fiscal year. Now think about that—that is just over a billion dollars a week that we’re exporting in food and agriculture products. . . .
“In recent years the United States has not kept pace with our competitors, and as a result our market share has steadily eroded. Two decades ago the United States was the world’s export leader, accounting for 24 percent of global agriculture trade. Today, that share has fallen to 18 percent. America’s once overwhelming leadership as an exporter has slipped to the point where our nearest rival, the European Union, is on the verge of overtaking us. In 1999 the E.U. share stood at 17 percent, less than one point less than our share. . . .
“We must aggressively seek trade reform through negotiations in the World Trade Organization, regional free trade agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements. To successfully pursue these negotiations, we need trade promotion authority. . . . Today there are more than 130 free-trade agreements around the world, and the United States is party to only two of those. . . .”

--Beth Roberts

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