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Agriculture has estimated that a successful Uruguay Round 

 agreement would expand U.S. agricultural exports by $6 to $8 

 billion annually after 5 years, and add $1 to $2 billion to farm 

 income. 



We chose to announce the Administration's decision to 

 seek the renewal of fast track procedures when Sir Leon Brittan 

 was here because the Round depends, in the first instance, on 

 U.S. and EC leadership in setting out the ambitious objectives to 

 be achieved in areas such as market access. The three-year 

 deadlock between the, rest of the world and the EC over 

 agriculture stalemated the Round and gave other nations, most 

 notably Japan, the ability to avoid contributing meaningfully to 

 the successful completion of the talks. We will not complete the 

 Round without some leadership by the United States and the EC. 

 Nor will we complete it if Japan continues to behave as if it has 

 little stake in the outcome. In the Round we will continue to 

 insist on meaningful access to Japan's rice market. We also need 

 to see signficant contributions from other trading partners — 

 the newly-industrializing countries in Asia and Latin America — 

 and the developing countries who owe their economic gains to a 

 strong, open multilateral system. 



Bilateral initiatives . While we work to conclude the 

 NAFTA supplemental agreements and the Uruguay Round, we will 

 continue to use our trade laws and the dispute settlement 

 provisions of our trade agreements to open foreign markets and 

 break down barriers to specific U.S. agricultural products. We 

 have our share of current difficult issues with the EC, which I 

 will discuss with Sir Leon Brittan when we meet again later this 

 month. We will continue to press the EC to implement fully the 

 commitments it made to us on oilseeds, corn gluten feed, and malt 

 sprout pellets. I also will meet early next month with Canadian 

 Trade Minister Michael Wilson, to explore what further can be 

 done to ensure that Canadian wheat shipments to the United States 

 are in conformity with trading rules. 



As this Committee knows, we currently export over $4 

 billion in farm products annually. That represents about 30 

 percent of the total value of U.S. farm production. We are not a 

 perfectly open market, of course, but because of history, 

 practice, and our concern for maximizing consumer choice, the 

 U.S. market will always be basically open. Consequently, we plan 

 to use every tool at our disposal — multilaterally where 

 possible, and bilaterally where necessary — to make sure that 

 other markets are comparably open to our own. 



Mr. Chairman, I welcome the opportunity to answer 

 questions from members of the Committee. 



