Lawmakers: U.S.-Australia FTA needs sugar

Lawmakers: U.S.-Australia FTA needs sugar    Two lawmakers chastised the Bush administration for proposing an exemption for U.S. sugar in its proposed free-trade agreement with Australia.
   “The rationale for keeping all commodities on the negotiating table in a free trade negotiation is sound policy and sound politics,” wrote Reps. Calvin Dooley, D-Calif., and John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a Jan. 22 letter to the president. “Once an exemption is provided for one so-called ‘sensitive’ commodity, others inevitably step forward to demand their exemption, and the equity and comprehensive nature of a free trade agreement unravels.”
   The lawmakers cited recent interest by U.S. dairy producers and cattlemen to seek exemptions from future free trade agreements. “The list of industries demanding an exemption will only grow now that the door has been opened,” Dooley and Boehner warned.
   The lawmakers’ letter also warned the administration about the perception these exemptions will set when the U.S. government goes back to the table to implement the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda.
   “We fear that the direction now being followed in the Australia FTA talks jeopardizes support in the international community and in the Congress for free trade initiatives for years to come,” the lawmakers said.