NFU Delegates: Time for New Trade Agenda
For Immediate Release: March 4, 2008
Contact: Liz Friedlander, 202-314-3191LAS VEGAS (March 4, 2008) – Farmers Union members today called for a new trade agenda that prioritizes the interests of American agriculture. Delegates to National Farmers Union’s annual convention in Las Vegas said trade agreements should be fair to level the playing field for producers by ensuring trading partners meet U.S. food safety and production standards.
“Trade agreements enacted under the free trade agenda have increasingly opened our borders to cheaper, lower quality products and decimated our trade surplus. American producers cannot compete with countries that do not adhere to our strong labor, health, environmental and safety standards,” NFU President Tom Buis said.
The delegates said pending free trade agreements in Congress serve only to further the failed NAFTA model and will not benefit the American agricultural economy.
Also cited as an example to improve trade agreements was the introduction of livestock diseases such as BSE and FMD that could potentially devastate the American agriculture economy. The delegates said it is not acceptable to allow animals and products into the United States, which pose a risk to American agriculture.
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