Sen. Kent Conrad met with sugar growers Wednesday to plot strategy for defeating or modifying a trade pact opponents fear would damage the Red River Valley sugar industry.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement - commonly called CAFTA - last week passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 54 to 45. Conrad, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., voted against the trade deal, while Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., voted for it.
Now the CAFTA battleground shifts to the U.S. House, where sugar industry representatives say it lacks enough votes to pass.
"This is an important turning point as we move from the Senate to the House in this battle against CAFTA," Conrad said. He predicted that the Bush administration, will offer tantalizing deals to wavering House members to try to pass the bill.
Conrad said CAFTA would be the latest in a series of trade deals that have backfired, producing a soaring U.S. trade deficit that reached $617 billion last year and could deepen by as much as 20 percent this year.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It would seem to me that the current trade strategy is not working and it's time to rethink what we're doing," said Conrad, who has supported some trade agreements and opposed others.
Projections by the U.S. International Trade Commission predict U.S. imports would exceed exports by $110 million under CAFTA, Conrad said.
Yet benefits to the U.S. economy would be too small to measure, "essentially zero," according to the trade commission's calculations, he said. Combined, the economies of the five Central American nations equal the economy of Columbus, Ohio.
"That's supposed to be the great opportunity," Conrad said.
Up to 80 percent of CAFTA nation goods would be allowed into the U.S. without tariffs, while most American exports would face tariffs, he added.
James Horvath, CEO of American Crystal Sugar, agreed with Conrad that the Bush administration had failed to offer the sugar industry a workable compromise.
"We find ourselves in a position where things right now are at a dead stop," Horvath said.
A deal offered by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns offered late last month included steps already required under the current farm bill, and those protections would expire in 21/2 years - "but CAFTA would be forever," Horvath said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It puts a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage," he added.
Mark Froemke of East Grand Forks, Minn., is a local union leader representing sugar workers. He said the debate about trade deals often gets lost in abstract numbers, yet millions of U.S. workers have lost their jobs because of trade policy.
"Everything becomes figures," he said. "These are real people."
Conrad said there is a growing recognition in Washington that U.S. trade policy has failed, but it's hard to overcome inertia. He said one senator seriously considered voting against CAFTA, but voted for it because he had supported previous "free trade" agreements.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
