Secretary Ann Veneman

     President George W. Bush has laid out an ambitious trade agenda, to include the launch of a new round of World Trade Organization negotiations in November, the completion of a free trade agreement with Chile by the end of the year, and the conclusion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005.

     No sector of the American economy stands to gain more from this agenda than agriculture. In fact, with exports accounting for over 25 percent of farm income, agriculture is already one of the most export-dependent sectors of the economy. On average, each week American processors and producers ship a billion dollars in food and farm products to foreign customers.

     But while we can take pride in the natural resources, the infrastructure, and the technology that make this possible, we cannot afford to be complacent. The long-term prosperity of the U.S. food and agriculture sector depends on our ability to stay ahead of the competition in the global economy.

     One of the most important tools we have is Trade Promotion Authority.

     With TPA we can enter into agreements to eliminate trade barriers and roll back trade-distorting subsidies. The President recently said that we need the help of the agriculture community to secure TPA. It is no coincidence that the first group he met with about TPA was agriculture.

     The benefits of trade to U.S. agriculture shouldn’t be a hard sell. Unfortunately, we haven’t been talking enough about the positive results from the Uruguay Round and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

     U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico have doubled since NAFTA took effect--a fact that often goes unrecognized. The Uruguay Round results are full of success stories--rice to Japan and Korea, for example, or the establishment of effective sanitary and phytosanitary rules that have allowed us to successfully challenge unfair barriers.

     We need to talk more about the real benefits we have gained from trade agreements and the benefits that will come from building on the process that was achieved in the Uruguay Round.

     Agriculture has benefited from being brought more fully in the WTO rules and having access to the dispute settlement mechanism. The U.S. has been involved in eight ag-related cases brought to dispute settlement panels. We have prevailed in six.

     Only with TPA can we continue to create new market opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products. Without TPA, those opportunities will be lost.

     With TPA, we can maintain U.S. leadership in initiating and writing new agreements. Without it, other countries will write the future rules of trade.

     These trade issues are too important--not only to agriculture and the food chain, but to the United States as well.