08/30/05 Tree fruit industry advice on trade

08/30/05 Tree fruit industry advice on trade

U.S.D.A. and the U.S. Trade Representatives Office announced appointments to a group of trade advisory committees. The purpose of the committees is for industry leaders in each sector to provide information and consultation on numerous trade issues between the U.S. and foreign trade partners. The Northwest fruit industry is represented on two fronts. Chris Schlect of the Northwest Horticultural Council was reappointed to the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee on Trade, a committee consisting of a broad representation of ag interests. Schlect says another member of the Hort Council was also recently reappointed to a committee. SCHLECT: Mark Powers of our staff was re-appointed to the A.T.A.C. for Fruits and Vegetables. The A.T.A.C.'s are Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees. So how does the advice and information Schlect and Powers provide to trade officials translate into a real world example of a trade negotiation that has proved beneficial to the Northwest fruit industry? SCHLECT: In the last round, the Uruguay round, we were very big supporters internally within the negotiation process of sanitary and phytosanitary section because we felt that as tariffs were reduced, it would be likely that countries would revert to technical barriers, and there had to be a mechanism to work on that. Currently, the A.P.A.C. and six A.T.A.C.'s are addressing matters ranging from the Doha round of the World Trade Organization ministerial on ag trade reform to various bi-lateral and regional free trade agreements.
Previous Report08/29/05 Wine industry roundtable
Next Report08/31/05 Crop insurance heads up