This is a edited version of an article from Feedstuffs.
Senator Grassley is mentioned.

 May 6, 2002 | Issue 18 | Volume 74

 WASHINGTON, D.C. --

The question is raised, How will this Farm Bill affect WTO and our
trade.
American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) president Bob Stallman and
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) had very different answers to
those questions last week. Stallman said during an
 AFBF press event the new farm bill gives the U.S. some new
 bargaining chips for the Geneva WTO negotiations. "I come from
 Texas, and we know a little bit about deal-making and horse
 trading. I don't know anybody that goes into a deal giving up
 something without getting something."


 In a power play, the new U.S. domestic subsidy levels will help
 force other nations to negotiate a better agricultural agreement
 in Geneva, he believes.Stallman said the criticism now coming
from other countries shows that the farm bill "has given us
strength going into the
negotiations.

 Grassley had a very different view. During a floor speech last
 week, he said in the wake of the start of the Doha Development
 Round of WTO negotiations, "We can't say that we want other
 nations to drop their trade-distorting domestic support and then
 a few months later pass a farm bill that has a good chance of
 busting our amber box commitments."


 Grassley, the ranking member on the Senate committee that
 oversees trade issues, pointed out that the U.S. has played "a
 leadership role in the past 50 years of trade negotiations
 because we have credibility." Passing a non-trade compliant farm
 bill, however, "seriously damages our credibility," he said.


 "I can't think of a more effective way to undermine everything
 we've worked for ... than to pass a farm bill that we know might
 break our WTO obligations," he added.


 Grassley doesn't buy arguments that the bill will allow the
 secretary of agriculture to cut U.S. farm payments if they
 threaten to go over the $19.1 billion WTO cap. "Is it reasonable
 to assume that any agriculture secretary would cut payment to
 farmers ... just when farmers need help most?" he said.

 Stenholm said, "We absolutely will respect WTO rules," but the
 message of the bill is that "we will stand shoulder to shoulder
 with our farmers, and we will negotiate down these subsidies."



           ©2002 Feedstuffs, Miller Publishing Company.






_______________________________
Navis Bermudez
Associate Washington Representative
Environmental Quality Program
202.675.2392

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