NFU to President Bush: Don’t Trade Away America’s Farmers
For Immediate Release: July 16, 2008
Contact: Liz Friedlander, 202-314-3191WASHINGTON (July 16, 2008) - National Farmers Union President Tom Buis today called on President Bush to accept no trade deal, rather than a bad deal that does not level the playing field for America’s farmers and ranchers during next week’s World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in Geneva.
In a letter to the president, Buis said the goal of simply achieving a deal should not trump reaching an agreement that is good for American agriculture.
“The proposals under consideration for the Doha round do not address some of the biggest factors impacting America’s family farmers - the lack of labor, environmental and health and safety standards in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Leveling the competitive playing field for American producers should be a top priority and we cannot support a trade deal that does not accomplish this goal,” Buis said.
Buis urged negotiators to consider how agreements will affect farmers and consumers given the ever-changing economic environment.
“We are in a new era that requires new thinking,” Buis said. “The agriculture economy is vastly different today than when this round of discussions was launched in 2001. We simply cannot afford to continue a trade agenda that encourages a race to the bottom of commodity prices, which benefits a handful of international traders, not farmers or consumers.”
NFU is also concerned by the insistence of United States trade negotiators to decouple the domestic safety net from production and market prices in favor of fixed payments.
“This ill-conceived safety net has been tried in the past and it was the most devastating and expensive farm policy in our nation’s history. To continue to pursue a decoupled policy would jeopardize our nation’s ability to continue to produce the safest, most abundant food in the world,” Buis said.
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