Market Access, Innovation, Human Rights Focus of Overseas Meetings

Market Access, Innovation, Human Rights Focus of Overseas Meetings

Meetings this week in Brussels and Moscow gave me an opportunity to address market access issues for soybean and pork producers in the United States, as well as the need to protect intellectual property rights. On the trip, made during a week-long Senate recess, I received a briefing on NATO-led efforts in Libya and Afghanistan, discussed anti-corruption efforts of Russian law enforcement in cooperation with U.S. authorities in Moscow, addressed human rights and press freedoms for the Russian people, and discussed U.S. visa requirements for Russian travelers.

As it stands, both the European Union and Russia are imposing non-tariff trade barriers against soybeans and pork produced by U.S. farmers for the export market. The European Union’s position on soybeans has created uncertainty for farmers, traders, co-ops and processors in the United States. American farmers need the EU to engage in a dialogue to try to resolve an unfair situation. Likewise, Russia’s unjustified position against U.S. pork has resulted in Russia’s banning of shipments from plants that account for 60 percent of U.S. pork production capacity. I delivered a letter on the soybean export dispute to the European Union Directorate General for Trade. The problem is that the Renewable Energy Directive of the European Union relies on a faulty Brazilian model to establish emission savings. The EU should use U.S. soybean production and transportation data in calculating the emission savings of biofuels produced from U.S. soybeans. In addition, the EU directive applies land sustainability guidelines all the way down to the farm level. Instead, the EU should utilize an aggregate certification approach along the lines of the sustainability requirement in the U.S. renewable fuel standard.

Market Access, Innovation, Human Rights Focus of Overseas Meetings