59 



I hope that the U.S. -Canada agreement will not be the cause of the 

 NAFTA failing. 



Senator Conrad. All right. 



Mr. Swenson, maybe I would turn to you on this same question. 

 I go back to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and a whole se- 

 ries of representations were made to us at that time. But I can re- 

 member very, very well being in hearings in which we were told 

 we would not face these problems with Durum that have subse- 

 quently surfaced. I remember very clearly being told Spring wheat 

 is certainly not going to be a problem. And the result truly has 

 been a bitter one. 



We have seen an absolute flood tide of Canadian grain coming 

 across our border, and we can't send anything north. We have had 

 people actually prevented from — we had a situation in our State. 

 A North Dakota farmer was going up to visit a family member and 

 had a bushel of wheat, a bushel of North Dakota wheat in the back 

 of his car, going to take it up and deliver it to a family member, 

 and that was prevented from going in. 



Yet day after day, the trucks roll. Day after day after day. This 

 has led to a high level of anger and frustration, as I think Mr. 

 Kleckner indicated. 



Do you share my recollection on what we were told with respect 

 to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and what is your observa- 

 tion? 



Mr. Swenson. Senator, I would agree that your recollection of 

 the discussion and debate is accurate, that we were promised en- 

 forcement, which did not result, and the mistrust is now deeply 

 embedded in those that have been impacted by the results of the 

 manner in which the Canadian Free Trade Agreement has been 

 implemented. That distrust, I think, does not allow us to accept 

 just verbiage and political rhetoric that, well, this won't happen 

 now under the North American Free Trade Agreement, because, 

 again, we haven't seen the real teeth, if you want to call it that, 

 the manner in which the language will be enforced. And we see the 

 loss of Section 22. What is the recourse? And so we have real con- 

 cerns. 



Also, we strongly support the implementation of end-use certifi- 

 cates, with Canadian trade, with Mexican trade. We think it is a 

 necessity. 



Senator Conrad. I am just being advised that we are anticipat- 

 ing a vote soon, but I will try to end the questioning before we get 

 to that vote. 



Dr. Roberts, with respect to sanitary and phytosanitary stand- 

 ards, we heard Secretary Espy indicate that we will be able to en- 

 force our standards, and I think we all understand that. The ques- 

 tion is, as a practical matter, whether or not border inspections can 

 give you enforcement of those standards that is effective. And I 

 would guess that the Florida fruit and vegetable producers have a 

 perspective on that, and perhaps you could share it with us. 



Ms. Roberts. I would be happy to, and I think I would also go 

 back to the previous question, because I think what you learned is 

 that the history of the past shows us we must have specificity in 

 the language in the agreement, or it is merely rhetoric and prom- 

 ises. If the individual was there that gave you that interpretation 



