Trade Policy

We ensure that trade agreements and trade negotiations include the interests of the U.S dry bean industry with regards to policies that encourage greater exports and a level playing field.  Additionally, the USDBC Executive Director advises both the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Trade Representative on trade related matters as an appointee of the Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee on grains and field crops (ATAC).  USDBC also is represented on the high level Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC).

Among USDBC top policy priorities are:  Maintaining the benefits for the US dry bean industry and U.S. agriculture in NAFTA, ensuring that we move forward on negotiations in the Asia Pacific region and that we are to continue with ratification of a TPP agreement that represents the best interests of U.S. agriculture.  We continue to support bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that level the playing field and confer preferential market access to U.S. agricultural goods.

While there has been minimal progress on a WTO agreement crafted from what remains of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), we continue to support the existence and mandate of the WTO and support efforts to continue to negotiate a worldwide agreement to end the practice of state trading export enterprises, unfair export subsidies, trade distorting subsidization of agricultural production, and a cap on skewed import tariffs that impact competitiveness.

We also work to ensure that global sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations are based on sound science and not formulated to be protectionist in nature nor prevent imports.

For a compendium of our trade policy priorities please see our latest submission to the National Trade estimate