TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE

forced off their land, but it would not disrupt world markets by tying
aid to greater farm production. With overproduction already one of
the biggest problems facing world agriculture, it is hardly helpful to
producers to support income through price guarantees or other de-
vices that encourage them to produce even more.

Our proposal to the GATT also seeks an internationally agreed on
approach to assure that the development and application of health
and sanitary regulations are based on scientifically verifiable needs
and not for the purpose of trade restrictions. Individual countries
now have their own health and sanitary regulations. Commodities
produced and exported under strict health standards in one country
must conform to different regulations in importing nations, thus
complicating trade. Standardizing health and sanitary rules world-
wide would help facilitate flow of trade.

Ambassador Clayton Yeutter called the U.S. proposal a quantum
leap forward in the conduct of agricultural trade and a quantum
leap forward in the disciplines that will exist throughout the world
(Yeutter and Lyng). He went on to say that everybody will have to
go down the reform road together; trade reform cannot be accom-
plished unilaterally.

Bilateral Issues

While reform through the Uruguay Round negotiations shows
much promise, it is not the only avenue for resolving trade difficul-
ties. Even as we are working in the GATT to bring about broad, long-
term changes in the world trading system, we also are continuing to
negotiate bilaterally with other countries, such as the European
Community (EC) and Japan.

Our ongoing talks with the EC, for example, provide a forum to
discuss pressing policy issues.

In the past year, we have addressed and successfully concluded an
agreement on EC compensation to the United States for trade losses
stemming from Spain’s and Portugal’s joining the EC last year. We
expect, and will insist, that the EC live up to its commitments in this
agreement.

We have also satisfactorily settled the “citrus-pasta” dispute. But
we still have a number of contentious issues pending, among them a
proposed EC tax on consumption of vegetable oils and the EC’s re-
strictions on meat imports from third countries. We are greatly con-
cerned about the implications of these issues for our oilseed and meat
trade.

Certainly much work remains to be done in the EC where govern-
ment policies are impeding the natural processes of adjustment to a
global agriculture.

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