[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 5 (Monday, January 31, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 31, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      DISPUTE OVER GRAIN SHIPMENTS

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I want to alert my colleagues to a piece 
of legislation I intend to introduce in the Senate this week dealing 
with the trade dispute on the shipments of grain from Canada to the 
U.S.
  I know that the shipment of grain, wheat, Durum, and barley does not 
mean very much to somebody unless you produce wheat, Durum, or barley, 
in this country. But unfair trade practices from our neighbors and 
trading partners mean a lot if you are a producer and it is taking 
money out of your pocket.
  Let me describe this situation just a bit. Two weeks ago, a group of 
farmers used grain trucks to blockade a couple of country elevators in 
Montana, Scobey, MT. Why did they do that? Because of unfair grain 
shipments flooding into this country from Canada. This week, there is 
going to be a demonstration, or at least a gathering of farmers, up at 
the Peace Garden near the North Dakota/Canadian border on the same 
subject.
  What is this trade dispute with Canada? It comes from the United 
States-Canadian Free Trade Agreement which our negotiators negotiated 
with Canada which resulted in a flood of grain coming into this 
country, sold in this country at below its cost, undercutting our 
farmers and costing our farmers hundreds of millions of dollars of lost 
income.
  It is a new version accomplished in trade of the old proverb about 
the national economic cow that feeds in the Midwest and is milked on 
both coasts. The fact is, this trade negotiation was one that sold out 
American agricultural interests.
  I have tried everything I can over 4 years to try to change this. We 
have had hearings. We have had legislation. We have done everything. We 
had trade negotiators negotiating, people running here and there. 
Everybody says good, smooth the problems. Yes; this is a problem. Yes; 
we can deal with it.
  The fact is, the problem is getting worse, not better. Let me 
describe to you last month's information that we just received.
  This is Durum wheat coming in from Canada. You can see what has 
happened. None in 1986; now it is equal to one-fourth of our domestic 
market. In the first 5 months of this year, 9.5 million bushels. You 
can see what is going to happen. We are going to be way above last 
year. The same is true with spring wheat. Exactly the same is true with 
barley. This problem is not getting better. This problem is getting 
worse.
  I am going to introduce a bill this week in the United States Senate 
asking for us to rescind the provisions of the United States-Canada 
Free-Trade Agreement that deal with the agricultural titles. I am just 
flat sick and tired of it. I am tired of bureaucrats. I am tired of 
excuses. I am tired of explanations. I am tired of negotiations which 
do not work. I am just flat tired.
  If we cannot have a trade system that demands of our neighbors fair 
trade rules--I am not asking for something special; just fair trade 
rules. If we cannot have that, then we ought not to have a trade 
agreement, period.
  So I have been through this for 5 years now. Everybody keeps saying, 
yes, we are doing this, that, or the other thing. The problem is 
getting worse. Yes; this trade Ambassador is better than anybody we 
have ever had. Yes; they are trying to take some action. But it is not 
fast enough. And this problem is growing.
  So I am just flat sick and tired of this problem. This problem sucks 
money out of the pockets of people out there struggling to make a 
living. And unfair trade practices, sanctioned by our trade 
negotiators, who in my judgment struck an unfair deal with Canada--
unfair for us--by selling out our agricultural interests, put our 
farmers in a position they should not be in.
  We deserve and expect action. We deserve and expect trade agreements 
with our neighbors to represent fair trade.
  You know the old proverbial thing about hitting the mule over the 
head with a 2 by 4 to get the mule's attention. I have hit these folks 
over the head, the Government over the head, with a Redwood tree. No 
one has blinked. Something is wrong.
  I am just saying today that I am trying to protect it by saying if 
you cannot fix this United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement, then 
scrap it and rescind the provisions that deal with agriculture. Let us 
start over.
  Family farmers who plant a crop in the spring and risk their all in 
the hope they will harvest in the fall and have a decent price do not 
deserve to have that price undercut. They do not deserve to lose 
hundreds of millions of dollars because of unfair trade that was 
sanctioned in the trade agreement that never, in my judgment, should 
have been approved by the U.S. Congress.
  So I will introduce this legislation this week. I hope that some of 
my colleagues will consider it an expression of opposition to 
incompetent trade negotiations and sign on with me, and let us try to 
ratchet up the pressure and see if we cannot do something that says, on 
behalf of those Americans who produce: We stand behind you. We very 
much expect you to compete. But at least we will make sure the rules 
are fair when you are forced to compete.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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