|
With TPA, the president can negotiate international trade agreements that will not only open more markets, but also increase choices and reduce costs for American farmers, workers, consumers and businesses, while reducing unfair subsidies by our competitors. Without TPA, the rest of the world is moving forward and signing trade deals that exclude the United States For example, U.S. exporters are losing business to Canadian firms in Chile because Canada has negotiated a free-trade agreement with Chile. The United States has not. Of the 130 preferential trade agreements in the world today, the United States is party to only two. By reestablishing TPA, we are providing the president the tools to open new markets and giving him the opportunity to improve labor conditions and environmental standards around the world. The president’s trade agenda includes a toolbox of action items to help encourage countries to protect their environments as well as improve labor standards, making trade free and fair. In the World of Trade, the United States fares very well. Con- sider the statistics: Twelve million U.S. jobs depend on exports – these jobs pay 13-18 percent more than other jobs; one in three U.S. farm acres is planted for export and 25 percent of gross farm income comes directly from exports; NAFTA and the Uruguay Roundtable trade agreements have generated an additional $1,300 – $2,000 in income for the average American family of four. With the recent acceptance of China into the WTO, U.S. corn growers now have fair access to a market that contains 20 percent of the world’s population, but only 7 percent of its arable land.
|
While
U.S. corn growers’ presence is great, market domination is
not without its limitations. In 1994, Congress failed to renew the
Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The president of the United States
has not had the adequate tools to negotiate new trade agreements
that could benefit the U.S. economy, agriculture and the U.S. corn
grower. The NCGA has worked to change that. 
|
|
