I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5790 

To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify trade barriers 

to United States agricultural exports and carry out other related duties. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 

Mr. CRAWFORD (for himself, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. MANN, Mr. ALFORD, Ms. LETLOW, and Mr. FEENSTRA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 

and Means 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify 

trade barriers to United States agricultural exports and 

carry out other related duties. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prioritizing Offensive 

5 Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Agricultural competitiveness through access 

2 to international markets is a vital part of the United 

3 States economy. 

4 (2) A healthy, well-functioning rules-based trad5 ing system is the basis for the success of United 

6 States agricultural exports. 

7 (3) When foreign governments erect trade bar8 riers this makes it difficult for United States agri9 cultural exporters to compete in the global market10 place while undermining the rules-based trading sys11 tem. 

12 (4) These trade barriers can harm United 

13 States farmers, ranchers, workers, and businesses, 

14 and they can also lead to higher prices for con15 sumers and a less resilient international trading sys16 tem. 

17 (5) Dispute settlement is available through 

18 trade agreements with 163 other countries and there 

19 are protectionist trade barriers to United States ag20 ricultural exports in many of these countries. 

21 (6) Many of these barriers are systemically im22 portant. For example, India’s unrestrained use of 

23 price support programs violates its commitments 

24 under the World Trade Organization (WTO). 


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1 (7) India recognizes that its price support pro2 grams violate its WTO commitments, so instead of 

3 reforming its programs, it has repeatedly demanded 

4 a permanent exemption from disputes for these pro5 grams. Moreover, India has tried to prevent discus6 sions at the WTO of any other significant agricul7 tural trade issue unless it receives such a permanent 

8 exemption. 

9 (8) The Government of India has repeatedly 

10 raised its minimum price supports, which has had 

11 negative effects on several commodity markets and 

12 most notably has led to its dominance of the global 

13 rice trade, with a 40-percent share of the global 

14 market since marketing year 2020 through 2021. 

15 India is also the world’s largest producer of pulses 

16 and second largest producer of wheat, peanuts, and 

17 cotton. 

18 (9) The United States Trade Representative 

19 submitted a counter notification at the World Trade 

20 Organization in 2023 showing that price supports by 

21 the Government of India for rice increased from 

22 78.6 percent of the value of production in marketing 

23 year 2014 through 2015 to 93.9 percent of the value 

24 of production in marketing year 2020 through 2021, 

25 compared to the limit at the World Trade OrganizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Oct 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5790.IH H5790

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1 tion on increased price supports of 10 percent of the 

2 value of production. That counter notification also 

3 showed price supports by the Government of India 

4 for wheat increasing from 77.7 percent to 81.3 per5 cent during the same period. Previous counter notifi6 cations have shown similar violations by the govern7 ment of India for other commodities. For example, 

8 in the 2016/17 marketing year, the support level was 

9 67.9 percent for cotton, 31.7 percent for chickpeas, 

10 41 percent for lentils, and 47.4 percent for pulses 

11 overall. 

12 (10) Minor attempts to reform the Indian agri13 culture subsidy system in the marketing year 2020/ 

14 2021 failed to produce results. The enacted reforms 

15 would not have changed the policies that violate 

16 WTO commitments but would have merely provided 

17 farmers with opportunities to sell their products out18 side of the government-run ‘‘mandi’’ system, but 

19 those were ultimately repealed. 

20 (11) Dispute settlement is an effective way to 

21 provide a neutral assessment of compliance with 

22 trade agreement terms and empower internal re23 formers who recognize a problem but have not been 

24 able to overcome entrenched resistance. 


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1 (12) Global agriculture is uniquely susceptible 

2 to trade barriers and requires special attention to re3 solve myriad systemic and economically significant 

4 trade violations that impede the development of a re5 silient, sustainable, and rules-based agricultural 

6 trading system. 

7 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) the United States should accelerate efforts 

10 to address foreign trade barriers that harm United 

11 States agricultural exports; 

12 (2) the Office of the United States Trade Rep13 resentative and the Department of Agriculture both 

14 have a critical role in developing agricultural trade 

15 disputes; 

16 (3) Congress and the private sector have key 

17 roles to play in the development of disputes and ag18 ricultural trade enforcement strategy; 

19 (4) in the case of India’s minimum price sup20 ports, the United States has exhausted other options 

21 available through the World Trade Organization 

22 short of requesting consultations under the Dispute 

23 Settlement Understanding (DSU); 


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1 (5) there should be a plan and definitive dead2 lines in place for a request for consultations and es3 tablishment of a panel under the DSU; 

4 (6) the Office of the United States Trade Rep5 resentative and the Department of Agriculture 

6 should jointly develop a proactive enforcement strat7 egy for addressing systemic and economically signifi8 cant trade barriers in the agriculture sector, in con9 sultation with Congress and the private sector; and 

10 (7) the Office of the United States Trade Rep11 resentative is the lead agency for United States 

12 trade policy. 

13 SEC. 4. AGRICULTURAL TRADE ENFORCEMENT TASK 

14 FORCE. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall 

17 establish a joint task force to be known as the ‘‘Agricul18 tural Trade Enforcement Task Force’’ (referred to in this 

19 section as the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

20 (b) DUTIES.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall— 

22 (A) identify trade barriers to United States 

23 agricultural exports that are vulnerable to dis24 pute settlement under the World Trade Organi25 zation (WTO) or other trade agreements; 


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1 (B) develop and implement a strategy for 

2 enforcing violations of trade agreements related 

3 to these trade barriers; 

4 (C) identify like-minded trading partners 

5 for specific trade barriers that could act as co6 complainants or primary complainants on dis7 putes that are systemically or economically im8 portant to the United States; and 

9 (D) report quarterly to Congress on 

10 progress towards resolving cases or filing dis11 putes. 

12 (2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out its duties 

13 under this subsection, the Task Force shall regularly 

14 consult, to the extent necessary and appropriate, 

15 with the following: 

16 (A) Relevant stakeholders in the private 

17 sector, including the agricultural trade advisory 

18 committees. 

19 (B) Federal departments and agencies that 

20 are not represented on the Task Force. 

21 (C) Like-minded trading partners that are 

22 similarly concerned with trade barriers and are 

23 potential participants in the dispute settlement 

24 process. 

25 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall be 

2 comprised of the following members: 

3 (A) One or more employees of the Foreign 

4 Agricultural Service, who shall be appointed by 

5 the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Ag6 ricultural Affairs. 

7 (B) One of more employees of the Office of 

8 the United States Trade Representative, who 

9 shall be appointed jointly by the General Coun10 sel for the Office of the United States Trade 

11 Representative and the Chief Agricultural Ne12 gotiator. 

13 (C) One or more employees of other Fed14 eral agencies as needed, who shall be appointed 

15 jointly by the officials specified in subpara16 graphs (A) and (B). 

17 (2) QUALIFICATION.—Employees of the Federal 

18 agencies specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and 

19 (C) of paragraph (1) may be appointed as members 

20 of the Task Force only if such employees have ap21 propriate expertise in agricultural trade policy and 

22 trade enforcement. 

23 (d) REPORT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act, and on a 


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1 quarterly basis thereafter, the Task Force shall sub2 mit to Congress a report on its progress in identi3 fying and addressing trade barriers to United States 

4 agricultural exports. 

5 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 

6 required by this subsection shall include the fol7 lowing: 

8 (A) A description of the systemic and eco9 nomically significant trade barriers that have 

10 been identified. 

11 (B) A justification for including the identi12 fied trade barriers. 

13 (C) A description of the progress that has 

14 been made in developing dispute settlement 

15 cases and further information that is required. 

16 (D) The current status of ongoing disputes 

17 at the WTO and implementation of panel, arbi18 tration, or Appellate Body decisions. 

19 (3) ADDITIONAL MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED IN

20 INITIAL REPORT.—The initial report required by this 

21 subsection shall, in addition to the matters described 

22 in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph 

23 (2), include a plan to file a request under the WTO 

24 dispute settlement process for consultations to adVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Oct 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5790.IH H5790

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1 dress India’s minimum price supports. The plan 

2 shall include— 

3 (A) an identification of like-minded trading 

4 partners that could act as co-complainants or 

5 primary complainants with respect to the re6 quest; 

7 (B) a description of specific claims the 

8 United States intends to make with respect to 

9 the request; and 

10 (C) a timeline to— 

11 (i) request consultations; and 

12 (ii) request the establishment of a 

13 panel not later than 60 days after the date 

14 of the request for consultations if India 

15 does not provide assurances that it will ad16 dress its minimum price supports. 

17 (e) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.—The United States 

18 Trade Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture 

19 shall provide briefings on the Task Force to appropriate 

20 Members of Congress and congressional staff. 

Æ 


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