Specialty Crops Export Promotion

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore) and ranking Republican Mike Crapo (Idaho) unveiled legislation last week to boost US exports of specialty crops.

The bill would make key improvements to the Agriculture Department’s annual US Specialty Crops Trade Issues Report, in order to more effectively identify and combat unreasonable trade barriers to US exports.

A companion bill is being introduced in the House by Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore), David Valadao (R-Calif) and Elissa Slotkin (R-Mich).

The Specialty Crops Reporting on Opportunities and Promotion Act responds to continued high tariffs, burdensome labeling requirements and other trade barriers that restrict US products from accessing foreign markets, threatening rural communities and agricultural producers who depend on customers overseas, according to the senators.

“Our bipartisan bill will help rural Americans by identifying unfair foreign trade barriers and creating specific plans to cut through that red tape,” Sen. Wyden commented.

The bill’s proposed improvements to the Speciality Crops Report “will arm producers and trade negotiators with detailed and up-to-date information, helping break down longstanding trade barriers, diversify export markets and expand export opportunities,” according to Sen. Crapo.

The bill would make the following improvements to the specialty crops report:

• Explicitly require participation and engagement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative;
• Highlight specific trade barriers that limit the export competitiveness of specialty crops in specific markets, including tariff and non-tariff barriers;
• Include an assessment of whether each trade barrier is subject to a US Free Trade Agreement or international agreement;
• Include specific information with respect to actions taken, or expected to be taken, by the US government to address or resolve each trade barrier;
• Require a request for comment from both the public and the Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Trade in Fruits and Vegetables;
•  Require the report to be made public, while allowing for a classified annex in order to protect U.S. national security and economic strategy and 
• Continue to define “specialty crop” as “fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.”