Sixty days from today, the WTO ministerial meeting convenes in Seattle. Part of the built-in agenda for that meeting will be continued liberalization of world trade in agriculture. At the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, the member countries recognized that what was accomplished in that round was a beginning, but that much more needed to be done if the world was going to continue to move toward free and fair trade in agriculture. The countries committed to meet again one year before the conclusion of the six-year Uruguay Round implementation period with a view toward continuing the reform process. Thus, the Seattle ministerial represents a multilateral commitment to work on some important unfinished business.
Continued reform is clearly in the interest of American agriculture.
No sector of the U.S. economy is more dependent on exports than agriculture. One specific area of concern that needs to be addressed today surrounds the Administration s apparent decision not to seek fast-track negotiating authority from the Congress. While that is true, most of us recall that very little, if anything, was accomplished during the first two years of the Uruguay Round. It was only after Congress voted fast-track authority in 1988 that any substantive talks occurred. Even then the progress was very slow and the Uruguay Round negotiations did not conclude until December 1993.