11/06/07 Catching Up On Trade

Catching Up on Trade. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Acting Ag Secretary Chuck Conner along with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and seven members of Congress spent the weekend in Columbia on a trade mission, The Bush Administration has been trying to drum up support for a free trade agreement with Columbia and according to Conner, progress is being made. Conner was glad to see that progress first hand. CONNER: There's nothing like experiencing something to make you passionate about it and I will tell you what we saw in Columbia in terms of the progress that they are making, going forward and establishing a strong democratic government, creating economic growth within the country, creating jobs for their people who used to be in many cases part of the paramilitary problem and are now working, getting a paycheck  you know that really does make a difference. One important issue in developing trade with Columbia extends to its significance in the role of strategic importance in regards to national security. Conner believes that agriculture plays a crucial role. CONNER: Just in terms of the political situation that is out there, free trade agreements need strong support of American agriculture in order to pass our Congress. We believe there are at least 45 groups out there that have signed on a letter supporting the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. This is a diverse group representing many different sectors within agriculture. There's a strong coalition here and were going to work closely with them to make sure that they are delivering the economic message for U.S. agriculture. Of course not everyone is in favor of the agreement and Conner says they heard first hand from those opponents. CONNER: It was rather a humorous exchange we had with the unions who were against the trade agreement because what they were basically advocating was they want us to continue our very low tariffs and duties on their products coming into our country so they could ship to us but they were totally unwilling  in fact one member just stood up and said we have a productive agricultural system and fertile land here, we don't want one dollars worth of your products coming into this country. We only want to do it ourselves. So obviously they don't recognize that there is a two-way aspect to trade here. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.