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Scuse on SA trade mission and pending FTAs
USDA’s Acting Under-Secretary of the Farm & Foreign Ag Service – who has returned from a South American trade mission – says the agency continues to work with the US Trade Representative on pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
Michael Scuse tells Brownfield the administration understands that agriculture is getting restless for ratification of those FTAs, “Let’s just put this in perspective. We just had, last year, the second largest year for U.S. ag trade – The second largest.”
Scuse says the U.S. is on track this year for record ag trade to exceed 130-Billion dollars with a trade surplus of over 30-Billion dollars. As for what’s holding up the FTAs,“None of the free trade agreements are ever easy. There are always issues that someone will have – that some group will have with a free trade agreement that has to be negotiated.”
Scuse says President Obama has made trade a priority,
“I think you’ll see that the Department of Agriculture and USTR are working very hard to sell ag products around the world.”
Scuse and ag industry representatives visited ag interests in Peru – which the U.S. has been in a free trade agreement with for the past two years, “What we’re hoping for is we will see a continued increase of that trade between the two countries and we were there to expand the opportunities for U.S. businesses.”
Scuse says the US has a different type of agreement with Ecuador which allows some US products in tariff-free as well. He says imports are growing because of the growing economies in those areas of South America.
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