Farm Bureau Endorse Free Trade Agreements

The American Farm Bureau Federation has given its thumbs up to two free trade agreements, claiming one offers especially important benefits to American farmers.

Farm Bureau trade experts say the Central American free trade agreement will be especially advantageous to U.S. farmers.

“Our economic analysis shows that there’s nearly a $900 million gain for U.S. agriculture in the Central American market,” said AFBF trade specialist Chris Garza.

While conceding that a similar pact with Australia does not offer the same boost, Garza believes that the agreement will benefit the U.S. economy in other ways.

The United States already is Australia’s second largest trading partner after Japan, with two-way merchandise trade valued at $18-billion in 2001-02. An economic benefit model prepared last fall for the Australian government revealed that net benefit in consumption and production for Australia during the next couple of decades would be almost $26 billion dollars and slightly more than $27 billion for the United States.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 22, 2004 09:09 AM | TrackBack