A Dialogue on the History and Vision for the Future of International Trade for U.S. Agriculture

Clayton Yeutter, Darci Vetter, Ronnie Green Author

01/14/2016 Added

163 Plays

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Heuermann Lecture focused on a dialogue about the issues surrounding international agriculture trade.

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[00:00:02.075](upbeat music)
[00:00:22.933]- Well welcome this evening
[00:00:24.352]to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:00:26.314]and to Nebraska Innovation Campus,
[00:00:28.547]for our second Heuermann Lecture
[00:00:31.053]of the 2015-2016 academic year.
[00:00:34.886]We're very pleased to see you here tonight.
[00:00:37.905]And, we think we have
[00:00:39.172]a great discussion and dialogue ahead
[00:00:41.376]for you in the next time,
[00:00:43.368]time period of about an hour and a half.
[00:00:46.085]The Heuermann Lectures
[00:00:48.017]were started five years ago
[00:00:50.220]by the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources
[00:00:52.786]here at the University Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:00:55.201]by the generosity of Keith and Norma Heuermann
[00:00:58.340]who are long time production, agriculture,
[00:01:01.841]and agribusiness people from the central,
[00:01:04.739]south-central part of Nebraska near Phillips.
[00:01:08.150]We're very pleased,
[00:01:09.780]I think, that Keith has been to all but one
[00:01:12.369]of the lectures and we've have had
[00:01:14.996]in the series since 2011.
[00:01:17.501]And he's here tonight.
[00:01:18.889]Please join me in thanking Keith Heuermann,
[00:01:21.395]the benefactor of our human lecture.
[00:01:23.870](applause)
[00:01:30.239]Keith knows both of our lecturers tonight,
[00:01:32.865]and has a long history with both of them.
[00:01:35.183]And, I'll tell you a little bit about how that,
[00:01:37.416]that is for each of them
[00:01:39.107]as they're introduced.
[00:01:40.676]The purpose of the Heuermann Lectures
[00:01:43.386]is to bring dialogue and leaders
[00:01:45.620]from the world stage to our campus
[00:01:48.035]in the areas of food security, agricultural security,
[00:01:52.442]natural resource security, rural sustainability,
[00:01:56.154]all of the issues that we know
[00:01:58.448]are big ones ahead of us
[00:02:00.622]in the world as we look out
[00:02:03.097]over the next several decades.
[00:02:05.119]Our lectures are streamed online live.
[00:02:08.560]So, we have people joining us
[00:02:10.522]from across the region
[00:02:12.273]here tonight with us
[00:02:14.265]in the Innovation Campus Facility,
[00:02:16.378]and they're archived online.
[00:02:17.918]So, I would welcome you to go online,
[00:02:20.363]to Heuermann Lectures,
[00:02:21.812]and see all of these previous lecturers,
[00:02:24.045]that we've brought to our campus
[00:02:25.917]over the last five years.
[00:02:27.668]Tonight we have a really special opportunity
[00:02:30.565]to hear a history of international trade
[00:02:34.097]related to agriculture.
[00:02:36.451]And we specifically wanted to dwell on this topic,
[00:02:39.983]because there is a lot of dialogue as you know,
[00:02:42.519]currently occurring for us nationally
[00:02:46.111]related to trade
[00:02:47.861]and related to a new big you trade partnership
[00:02:50.216]that we will hear about tonight
[00:02:52.816]in the Trans Pacific Partnership.
[00:02:55.969]So, we wanted to take a little broader look,
[00:02:58.375]if you will across the history of what we think of
[00:03:01.853]as the development of free trade,
[00:03:04.194]and how it impact agriculture.
[00:03:06.632]Those of us in Nebraska know
[00:03:09.070]how important trade is to our industries in this state.
[00:03:12.710]Export products from the state of Nebraska,
[00:03:17.229]especially agricultural products from this state,
[00:03:21.032]make up a huge part of our economy
[00:03:23.763]in the state of Nebraska;
[00:03:25.455]somewhere around three billion dollars in annual trade
[00:03:29.518]that comes out of our state,
[00:03:31.454]especially in the food and the ag sector.
[00:03:34.183]So, we understand the importance of this issue,
[00:03:37.206]if you will for,
[00:03:38.702]for us locally here in Nebraska.
[00:03:42.019]We are very pleased tonight
[00:03:44.294]to have the perspectives of two people
[00:03:46.910]who represent a pretty broad spectrum
[00:03:49.576]of time in the development of trade,
[00:03:52.664]not only in agriculture,
[00:03:54.452]but more broadly, if you will,
[00:03:57.020]especially in agriculture,
[00:03:58.582]but you'll see in their comments tonight,
[00:04:01.213]even more broadly so.
[00:04:03.279]Many of you are familiar with,
[00:04:05.685]through his long history,
[00:04:07.765]starting at Eustis, Nebraska
[00:04:10.203]in the western part of our state,
[00:04:12.186]Dr. Clayton Yider to my left.
[00:04:14.592]Dr. Yider grew up here,
[00:04:17.324]came to the University of Nebraska
[00:04:19.956]where he graduated with highest honors
[00:04:22.460]in both agricultural economics
[00:04:24.604]and with this JD from our College of Law
[00:04:27.627]and then has had a very long and illustrious career
[00:04:31.268]in a lot of different positions
[00:04:33.641]in a lot of very important positions
[00:04:36.144]related to agriculture
[00:04:37.803]and ultimately in a wider sense
[00:04:40.241]in our federal government.
[00:04:42.029]He was the CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
[00:04:45.636]at one point in his career.
[00:04:47.587]He was, served as the US Trade Representative
[00:04:51.585]during the time that NAFTA
[00:04:53.925]was being created,
[00:04:55.470]the Canadian agreement,
[00:04:56.900]and then the NAFTA agreement
[00:04:59.143]for North America as we know it today.
[00:05:01.776]He served as Secretary of Agriculture
[00:05:03.954]of the US Department of Agriculture
[00:05:06.295]So, he has this illustrious career,
[00:05:10.212]deep in agriculture,
[00:05:12.097]but more widely in the trade arena
[00:05:14.015]that Clayton brings to the stage with us tonight.
[00:05:18.127]And then on my right,
[00:05:20.663]we have Darci Vetter joining us,
[00:05:23.231]also a native Nebraskan.
[00:05:25.279]So we're very proud of the fact
[00:05:26.839]that we're book ending this discussion
[00:05:28.789]with two native Nebraskans
[00:05:30.870]who have meant so much to us in the trade arena.
[00:05:33.470]Darci is from the Aurora area of the state.
[00:05:36.461]I mention that Mr. Heuermann knew them both.
[00:05:39.517]He knew Clayton as Secretary of Agriculture,
[00:05:41.987]and all the positions he said.
[00:05:43.645]He said he sold seed to Darci's grandfather,
[00:05:46.928]and to her father who is joining us here tonight.
[00:05:50.244]So, Darci is from the Aurora area.
[00:05:53.885]Has a background,
[00:05:56.030]Drake University.
[00:05:57.883]Has been involved in the trade arena in Washington
[00:06:01.329]the last number of years we actually had her,
[00:06:04.027]she doesn't know I'm going to say this,
[00:06:05.945]but we actually had her looking at a position
[00:06:07.733]at the University of Nebraska
[00:06:09.683]at the time that she was nominated to become
[00:06:14.462]the US Chief Negotiator for Agricultural for USDA,
[00:06:18.623]and the position that she holds today.
[00:06:21.321]So, Darci is the bookend on the current side,
[00:06:25.774]where we're now talking about
[00:06:28.017]agreements across the Pacific
[00:06:30.065]and agreements across the Atlantic
[00:06:32.308]in addition to NAFTA and CAFTA
[00:06:35.169]as it started out for us in the 1980s.
[00:06:37.964]and the 1990s.
[00:06:39.655]So our format tonight,
[00:06:41.638]is to hear from each of Clayton and Darci.
[00:06:45.539]So, they'll makes some opening comments
[00:06:47.651]from their perspective
[00:06:49.244]around this issue of international trade.
[00:06:52.170]Then we'll have some dialogue in the discussion,
[00:06:54.836]amongst the two of them,
[00:06:56.916]before we open up the floor
[00:06:58.899]to you in the audience
[00:07:00.427]to be able to have questions and dialogue
[00:07:02.767]with them in the last 15 or 20 minutes of our time.
[00:07:06.213]So that's our format tonight.
[00:07:08.228]We look forward to a great discussion.
[00:07:10.244]So with that, Clayton,
[00:07:12.032]welcome back to Nebraska.
[00:07:13.982]The last thing I'm going to say in introducing Clayton,
[00:07:16.518]some of you of heard us talk about this,
[00:07:18.371]we're very proud of the fact,
[00:07:19.996]that due to Clayton and his family
[00:07:22.531]and many of Clayton's friends
[00:07:24.970]and colleagues through his career,
[00:07:27.440]that we're in the process of standing up
[00:07:29.488]The Yider Institute for International Trade and Finance
[00:07:32.663]here at the University of Nebraska
[00:07:34.939]jointly between the College of Business Administration,
[00:07:37.767]College of Law,
[00:07:39.230]and the College of Agricultural Sciences
[00:07:41.245]and Natural Resources.
[00:07:42.708]Dr Clayton Yider.
[00:07:44.137](applause)
[00:07:51.555]Thank you, Mr Vice-Chancellor.
[00:07:53.941]And, you know, welcome everybody.
[00:07:56.651]It was wonderful to see a lot of you on the way in.
[00:07:59.065]I was trying to get into the room,
[00:08:02.173]where we were having a reception in there,
[00:08:04.407]and I never made it,
[00:08:05.795]but it was a wonderful opportunity to visit
[00:08:09.055]with a whole host of you.
[00:08:11.410]And, Dr. Green, I liked all of that introduction
[00:08:14.700]except one part
[00:08:16.271]and that was where talked about
[00:08:18.051]the broad spectrum of the age differential.
[00:08:21.431]You know what that means,
[00:08:23.091]is that one you is awfully young
[00:08:24.842]and the other one is awfully old.
[00:08:26.563]And, it isn't very difficult to determine
[00:08:29.370]which is which.
[00:08:32.420]And I want to say preliminarily too,
[00:08:34.754]that you're all in for a great treat
[00:08:37.169]to listen to Ambassador Vetter tonight,
[00:08:40.457]because she's absolutely outstanding,
[00:08:43.431]and you Cornhuskers
[00:08:45.812]should be very, very proud of her.
[00:08:47.437]She's going to make you proud,
[00:08:48.835]for a lot of years ago to come.
[00:08:50.655]So, what I'm going to do my part as quickly as possible
[00:08:54.296]so that you can listen to her,
[00:08:56.117]as long as you want to listen to her,
[00:08:58.392]but what we did,
[00:09:00.147]the way we decided to handle this,
[00:09:01.773]was that I ought to try to
[00:09:03.691]put what's happened in trade,
[00:09:05.677]and especially agricultural trade,
[00:09:08.363]in kind of in a historical perspective,
[00:09:11.231]but I always find it
[00:09:13.313]helps me to evaluate a situation
[00:09:16.090]if I know what is come before and why.
[00:09:19.713]And then you can determine where you are,
[00:09:22.308]and why, and what you do from then on.
[00:09:24.633]So, I'm going to eventually fade away here
[00:09:28.376]and let the Ambassador Vetter tell you where we are,
[00:09:31.605]and why, and where we go from here.
[00:09:33.869]I thought it might be helpful
[00:09:35.379]to put this a little bit in perspective.
[00:09:37.401]So, I'm going to try to do 50 years of trade history,
[00:09:41.350]in about the 10 to 12 minutes,
[00:09:43.977]which is a formidable task,
[00:09:46.301]but let's see if we can do it.
[00:09:48.384]You know all of this started,
[00:09:50.315]right after World War II.
[00:09:52.605]And, at that time, in 1947,
[00:09:55.926]the major nations of the world
[00:09:59.246]who survived World War II,
[00:10:01.449]established what is called
[00:10:04.408]The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
[00:10:07.330]which was just an accord,
[00:10:11.316]but they begin the kind of put an organization around it,
[00:10:14.684]it became known as the GATT,
[00:10:16.525]and they put it in Geneva, Switzerland.
[00:10:18.850]They assigned a director-general to it,
[00:10:21.324]and then put a little dinky secretariat up there.
[00:10:25.128]And, that was to run trade of all kinds,
[00:10:29.264]Agriculture wasn't even on the agenda at that time,
[00:10:32.666]and from then, from the 40s until the 70s,
[00:10:36.083]about the time I first came into government,
[00:10:38.315]the only thing they,
[00:10:40.005]they ever did was work on tariffs levels.
[00:10:42.660]They would about once every 10 years,
[00:10:45.527]in that 30 year period,
[00:10:47.008]would negotiate tariffs down a bit.
[00:10:49.181]They usually used a formula at that point,
[00:10:51.837]and they usually made a little progress on the tariffs,
[00:10:54.071]but not a whole lot, especially on agriculture,
[00:10:56.570]because agricultural tariffs around the world
[00:10:58.773]have traditionally been pretty darn high.
[00:11:01.672]And, if you have a formula that says
[00:11:03.512]you're going to reduce tariffs by 10%,
[00:11:05.566]but your original tariff is 200%,
[00:11:07.887]you haven't gained a whole lot.
[00:11:09.579]You've gone from 200 down to 180,
[00:11:11.541]but you still don't get any trade.
[00:11:13.503]So there wasn't anything very satisfying
[00:11:16.823]about all those tariff reductions,
[00:11:18.846]which went on for about 30 years.
[00:11:22.045]That came up until the 70s,
[00:11:24.551]and in the Ford Administration,
[00:11:28.233]I became the Deputy STR,
[00:11:31.946]which was the number two position in trade.
[00:11:34.450]And, what President Ford said at that time,
[00:11:36.383]"Come on, we need to get
[00:11:37.742]"some agriculture into this picture."
[00:11:39.160]And, that's why he invited me to come
[00:11:40.940]from USDA over to
[00:11:43.418]the Office of the Special Trade Representative
[00:11:46.219]to give that agriculture some representation.
[00:11:49.467]At that time we're having a hard time
[00:11:51.429]with the European
[00:11:53.180]what was in the European Economic Community,
[00:11:55.051]Western Europe,
[00:11:56.379]because they were eating our lunch already
[00:11:58.734]in agricultural trade.
[00:12:00.755]And so, we began to attack them
[00:12:03.141]pretty aggressively at that time,
[00:12:05.223]but we have elections in the US.
[00:12:08.361]And, President Ford went out,
[00:12:10.474]in the aftermath of Watergate.
[00:12:12.679]President Carter came in.
[00:12:14.671]There wasn't anybody in the Carter Administration
[00:12:16.996]that cared very much about agriculture,
[00:12:19.320]and as a consequence,
[00:12:21.101]we went through four years there,
[00:12:23.183]in which the front,
[00:12:24.812]whatever progress we've made
[00:12:26.594]in the Ford Administration went down the tubes
[00:12:28.858]in the Carter Administration.
[00:12:30.547]And, of course, we had the grain embargo in 1980,
[00:12:33.145]as you will recall,
[00:12:34.714]as a part of the Carter Administration,
[00:12:36.344]which was a huge, huge mistake.
[00:12:38.336]So, things were in a mess,
[00:12:40.359]trade-wise.
[00:12:42.170]That put us into the early 80s.
[00:12:44.404]For those of you,
[00:12:45.881]that were old enough to remember,
[00:12:47.603]The early 80s were a tough time
[00:12:49.654]for American agriculture.
[00:12:51.286]We lost thousands and thousands of farms in the,
[00:12:54.304]in the early 80's.
[00:12:56.598]And that was partially at least due to
[00:12:59.949]things going wrong in trade,
[00:13:02.242]because our friends in the Western Europe
[00:13:05.013]took advantage of their opportunities at that time
[00:13:08.189]and they really did us in.
[00:13:10.377]I can remember looking at the chart
[00:13:12.912]on wheat exports at that time
[00:13:15.267]and thanks to their export subsidies,
[00:13:18.434]just spending massive amounts
[00:13:20.395]to buy world market share,
[00:13:22.690]the European Union,
[00:13:24.319]European Economic Community at that time,
[00:13:26.826]market share in wheat was going like that,
[00:13:29.029]and our market share in wheat
[00:13:30.750]was going just like that.
[00:13:32.501]I was at the Chicago Merc then,
[00:13:34.764]being out of government, of course,
[00:13:36.545]and I said to the Europeans
[00:13:38.447]with whom I dealt at the time,
[00:13:40.620]"This is unsustainable.
[00:13:42.250]"You guys cannot go on like this.
[00:13:45.299]"You are pushing this envelope too hard, too far,
[00:13:49.042]"and at some point the United States is gonna react
[00:13:52.091]"and respond to that."
[00:13:54.475]Their reaction was,
[00:13:56.135]"We don't care what you have to say about that.
[00:13:58.399]"You're not in the government in the first place.
[00:14:00.299]"And in the second place,
[00:14:02.050]"The Common Agricultural Policy is sacristan."
[00:14:05.762]and their comment was,
[00:14:07.513]"It is what holds Western Europe together.
[00:14:10.834]"We are not going to change it,
[00:14:12.916]"whether you like it or not.
[00:14:14.970]"And whatever the cost, we're going to pay it."
[00:14:17.777]And I thought to to myself,
[00:14:19.739]"Somebody needs to teach these folks a lesson."
[00:14:23.512]Fortunately, I had that opportunity,
[00:14:26.046]because President Reagan invited me
[00:14:27.857]to become USTR in 1985.
[00:14:30.876]And we began a much, much more
[00:14:34.015]aggressive trade policy at that point,
[00:14:36.369]not just in agriculture but in everything.
[00:14:38.665]And as some of you
[00:14:40.082]who were around long enough will remember that,
[00:14:42.701]that was when we started the Uruguay round
[00:14:44.735]to trade negotiations which was a big deal,
[00:14:49.323]because we got agriculture on the agenda,
[00:14:52.159]services, intellectual property, investment,
[00:14:56.468]and shaping up the dispute settlement system.
[00:14:59.932]Five major objectives that the US had at that time.
[00:15:03.102]Got all five of of 'em
[00:15:04.691]on the agenda as we launched the Uruguay Round.
[00:15:07.038]That was a significant achievement,
[00:15:09.205]because just three years earlier,
[00:15:11.560]in the mid-1982-1983,
[00:15:15.392]my predecessor Bill Brock, who's a great guy,
[00:15:18.532]tried to launch round of trade negotiations in Geneva.
[00:15:22.658]It failed.
[00:15:23.956]Everybody came home mad,
[00:15:25.406]including all the congressman who accompanied him.
[00:15:27.790]So, getting the thing going, in 1986,
[00:15:30.748]was a major achievement.
[00:15:32.349]And, about that same time, as Ronnie indicated,
[00:15:35.446]we also started the US Canada Free Trade Agreement
[00:15:39.687]and finished that in about 18 months.
[00:15:42.344]The largest bilateral free trade agreement
[00:15:45.634]in the history of the world.
[00:15:47.504]Carly Hills, my successor, added Mexico,
[00:15:51.007]and that became NAFTA.
[00:15:52.848]And then we also did a bunch of
[00:15:54.840]smaller free trade agreements.
[00:15:56.861]They came in kind of there,
[00:15:58.704]and a little bit later,
[00:16:00.364]that included into Panama, and Central America,
[00:16:03.221]and Peru and Singapore and ...
[00:16:06.933]You know a whole bunch of these;
[00:16:09.588]Korea finally.
[00:16:11.249]And those proved difficult though
[00:16:13.544]to get through the Congress.
[00:16:15.234]And one of the problems
[00:16:16.531]with doing all these little bilaterals,
[00:16:18.343]and some of them not so little,
[00:16:20.062]is that you expend about as much political capital
[00:16:23.172]trying to get them through the Congress,
[00:16:25.134]as you do a big deal.
[00:16:26.657]So, some of us said,
[00:16:28.166]"You know if you're gonna have to
[00:16:30.190]"expend all this political capital,
[00:16:31.608]"why don't you do big deals instead of little deals?"
[00:16:34.076]But, this went on for a while,
[00:16:37.940]and what happened at in the early 90's,
[00:16:41.048]as we're,
[00:16:42.528]as people were putting the finishing touches
[00:16:44.128]on the Uruguay Round and on,
[00:16:46.150]on NAFTA, is that,
[00:16:49.123]we sorta went then into a quiet period,
[00:16:51.976]for a few years until 9/11.
[00:16:55.598]And, at, after 9/11 everybody said,
[00:16:59.189]"You know, we're on America's side now."
[00:17:02.299]And, we said,
[00:17:04.290]"Let's take advantage of that opportunity
[00:17:06.465]"and get a new trade round going."
[00:17:08.336]So, they launch the
[00:17:10.025]what became known as
[00:17:11.445]the Doha Development Round.
[00:17:13.558]And, I said to myself
[00:17:16.124]when that name was enunciated,
[00:17:19.926]Doha Development Round,
[00:17:22.167]I said, "It's doomed to fail."
[00:17:25.427]And it was,
[00:17:27.267]and it did,
[00:17:28.536]and it has.
[00:17:29.923]Because the word development did it in.
[00:17:33.395]What that said
[00:17:35.206]to the developing countries of the world
[00:17:37.562]is that you're going to get a free ride.
[00:17:40.212]And, there are no free rides.
[00:17:42.929]it may be fairly close to free,
[00:17:45.614]it may be not less,
[00:17:47.057]something less than a full ride,
[00:17:48.836]but you can't come into an exercise like that
[00:17:51.132]and expect a free ride.
[00:17:53.094]And, too many of those countries did.
[00:17:55.207]As a consequence, the world has spent
[00:17:58.194]about a dozen or more years on the Doha Round.
[00:18:01.424]It got absolutely nowhere until
[00:18:04.623]the US demonstrated some leadership here
[00:18:07.491]in a meeting in Nairobi just a few weeks ago.
[00:18:10.781]Darci will expand on that.
[00:18:13.016]And in that meeting, we got an agreement
[00:18:15.460]on getting rid of all exports subsidies,
[00:18:18.418]including agricultural exports subsidies.
[00:18:20.742]and that's a pretty big deal.
[00:18:22.432]That's probably the only thing
[00:18:23.821]that's ever going to come out of the Doha Development Round.
[00:18:27.568]But, as a consequence of this bad experience
[00:18:31.197]with Doha,
[00:18:32.857]countries begin to say,
[00:18:35.272]"You know, there has to be another way to do this.
[00:18:38.290]"You know, why can't we have something that's
[00:18:41.490]"less than an agreement with 150 countries.
[00:18:45.565]"Let's do it with not two countries,
[00:18:48.631]"but maybe a dozen or so."
[00:18:50.744]The opportunity arose
[00:18:52.976]in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations
[00:18:56.418]which were just finished
[00:18:58.319]thanks to a lot of good effort,
[00:19:00.101]and a great effort on the part of Ambassador Vetter.
[00:19:03.692]That started out as a foreign nation negotiation.
[00:19:06.620]We were not a part of that.
[00:19:08.341]We jumped on the bandwagon at some point.
[00:19:10.937]Some of us worked pretty hard
[00:19:12.757]to get Japan into the act,
[00:19:14.356]because from the standpoint of agriculture
[00:19:16.136]if you don't get it, Japan into the act,
[00:19:18.309]you haven't gotten much.
[00:19:19.697]We were successful in having that happen.
[00:19:21.949]We ended up with 12 nations,
[00:19:24.033]much of
[00:19:25.964]eastern A,
[00:19:27.565]southeast Asia, with the exception of China.
[00:19:30.492]That was clearly worthwhile doing.
[00:19:33.240]It turned out to be a heck of an exercise.
[00:19:36.409]As Ambassador Vetter will tell you,
[00:19:38.780]it produced a six thousand page document,
[00:19:42.070]probably the longest trade agreement,
[00:19:44.274]that I guess in the history of the world,
[00:19:46.326]which may or may not be a good thing,
[00:19:48.622]but it was a success story.
[00:19:52.122]In closing these agreements,
[00:19:54.266]to where you have an agreement,
[00:19:56.589]is a critical element of this
[00:20:00.061]of this exercise and we had a success there.
[00:20:03.322]The other piece,
[00:20:04.693]which Ambassador Vetter will undoubtedly come in on,
[00:20:07.470]is so-called TTIP negotiations,
[00:20:10.187]which is the free trade agreement negotiations
[00:20:12.541]between the US and the European Union.
[00:20:15.167]What happened there,
[00:20:16.504]was that when the European Union figured out
[00:20:18.376]that the US was doing this big deal in Asia,
[00:20:21.002]they said, "Hey, you know,
[00:20:22.724]"we're not going to be a part of that.
[00:20:24.746]"We're getting left out.
[00:20:26.375]"We better do something about it."
[00:20:28.125]So, they became the demandeur,
[00:20:30.148]came to us and said,
[00:20:31.198]"Hey, we want to do a free trade agreement
[00:20:32.919]"between the European Union and the US."
[00:20:35.363]That exercise is still underway.
[00:20:37.771]It has lots of challenges,
[00:20:39.611]as Ambassador Vetter will tell you,
[00:20:41.846]but the lesson, the historic lesson,
[00:20:45.370]of what has happened here at the,
[00:20:47.754]in the last few years,
[00:20:49.867]is that we've finally decided that,
[00:20:52.161]maybe a round of negotiations,
[00:20:54.697]involving 150 countries,
[00:20:57.273]including some very intransigent countries,
[00:21:00.562]is not the way to go.
[00:21:02.494]And, we should not put ourselves in a position
[00:21:06.086]where we can be held hostage,
[00:21:09.084]in terms of opening up trade opportunities
[00:21:11.589]around the world,
[00:21:12.979]by countries who don't wanna open up
[00:21:14.534]trade opportunities around the world.
[00:21:16.700]And among the most difficult in that regard,
[00:21:19.597]in recent years,
[00:21:20.956]have been the so-called BRIC countries.
[00:21:23.159]And, as most of you know the BRICS are
[00:21:25.906]Brazil, Russia, India,
[00:21:29.620]China and South Africa.
[00:21:33.168]You know, from a trade standpoint,
[00:21:36.037]they've been big trouble makers,
[00:21:37.999]in recent years.
[00:21:40.443]That isn't to say they cannot change.
[00:21:43.310]And, Ambassador Vetter may indicate
[00:21:45.732]that in some respects,
[00:21:47.264]it is already beginning to change,
[00:21:49.659]but the fact is,
[00:21:51.289]we've now decided that you know,
[00:21:52.999]maybe we ought to be engaging in negotiations
[00:21:56.079]of a Coalition of the Willing,
[00:21:58.734]that is the people who really want open up
[00:22:00.636]the markets around the world.
[00:22:02.900]And, that's what happened in TTIP,
[00:22:06.160]and that's what may happen in
[00:22:08.242]or happened in TPP,
[00:22:10.204]and what may happen in TTIP,
[00:22:11.955]and may have
[00:22:13.645]some really fine opportunities for the future.
[00:22:17.443]That's the history as to how this has all evolved.
[00:22:21.339]We're now dealing, no longer with just tariffs,
[00:22:24.144]We're dealing with a lot of non-tariff barriers,
[00:22:26.861]and in agriculture,
[00:22:28.491]which is a major challenge in itself.
[00:22:30.815]That's really been true over the last 20 years or so.
[00:22:35.224]And, it's going to be true from here on.
[00:22:38.301]That makes Ambassador Vetter's job a lot tougher,
[00:22:41.525]than dealing just with tariffs.
[00:22:43.336]Tariffs are pretty simple and easy,
[00:22:45.086]in that respect,
[00:22:46.776]but when you get to some of these things,
[00:22:49.448]like variable levy systems,
[00:22:51.080]and tariff rate quotas,
[00:22:52.799]and other things that are really creative ways
[00:22:55.093]to impede trade,
[00:22:56.736]that becomes much more of a challenge.
[00:22:59.119]And, Ambassador Vetter, to you.
[00:23:03.639]Before we go to the Darci--
[00:23:05.724](applause)
[00:23:11.518]Listening to Clayton can tell you
[00:23:13.389]how much investment of time
[00:23:15.685]goes into the development of trade.
[00:23:18.552]You gave us a very good picture of that.
[00:23:20.665]And, it goes without saying,
[00:23:22.203]that Darci has spent a lot of time on planes,
[00:23:24.553]in recent history,
[00:23:26.634]leading up to the TPP agreement this past fall.
[00:23:30.891]And I know that she's now spending a lot of time
[00:23:34.212]vetting these hopefully moving forward successfully,
[00:23:38.044]that agreement here in the US.
[00:23:40.459]So, I ran into her in Tucson last week.
[00:23:43.206]She had just been in Orlando,
[00:23:45.380]a day or two before at the American Farm Bureau,
[00:23:47.795]and now she's here in Lincoln with us tonight.
[00:23:49.575]Please welcome Darci Vetter.
[00:23:51.417](applause)
[00:23:55.953]And, she has a great husband
[00:23:57.643]two beautiful young children too.
[00:24:01.571]Thank you.
[00:24:02.503]Thank you very much for, to the university,
[00:24:04.901]and to Dr. Green for inviting me to be here.
[00:24:07.254]It is really an honor to be back in my home state,
[00:24:10.755]and particularly to share the stage with you,
[00:24:13.894]Clayton Yider,
[00:24:15.434]to be part of this conversation with someone
[00:24:18.965]who really set the table
[00:24:20.568]for the work that I can do today,
[00:24:22.289]and helped form the foundation,
[00:24:23.937]the institutions that guide the way we all negotiate trade
[00:24:27.891]is just really a privilege.
[00:24:29.702]So, I'm very proud to be here.
[00:24:32.389]So, you just got a great history in a nutshell
[00:24:36.735]of trade policy,
[00:24:38.305]and an overview of the challenges
[00:24:40.237]that we are facing
[00:24:41.716]as well as some of the opportunities we have
[00:24:44.131]to really deliver good trade results for US agriculture.
[00:24:47.602]And, I'm going to take a little bit to talk about
[00:24:49.956]three of the key items
[00:24:51.526]on the president's trade agenda.
[00:24:53.096]That is to talk you through a bit
[00:24:54.937]about the recent WTO World Trade Organization
[00:24:58.619]ministerial we just finished in Nairobi,
[00:25:01.095]what it means and where we go from here.
[00:25:03.389]to talk a bit about our progress thus far,
[00:25:06.075]and that TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade
[00:25:08.369]and Investment Partnership Agreement
[00:25:10.633]we're pursuing with Europe,
[00:25:12.384]and then to spend the bulk of my time
[00:25:13.802]talking about the TPP,
[00:25:15.553]the agreement we just finished
[00:25:17.245]with those 12 Asia-Pacific countries
[00:25:19.326]and sorta why it matters, and what comes next.
[00:25:22.224]So, on the WTO front,
[00:25:24.428]Clayton's absolutely right,
[00:25:26.058]that we found ourselves in 2001,
[00:25:28.865]in this dynamic where we had created
[00:25:31.129]the Doha Development Round.
[00:25:33.121]And, what we officially did
[00:25:34.600]was created two categories of countries:
[00:25:36.592]developed and developing.
[00:25:38.645]And we all know that was in the developing countries
[00:25:41.271]there's a wide variety
[00:25:43.021]in terms of the level of their economic development.
[00:25:45.768]And, during the 15 years
[00:25:47.308]that we were trying to fight out
[00:25:48.817]how each of those groups of countries
[00:25:50.538]were going to contribute,
[00:25:52.258]those BRICS countries in particular,
[00:25:54.250]rose in their prominence
[00:25:55.729]and in their ability to influence the agricultural economy.
[00:25:58.718]When we started the Doha Round
[00:26:00.800]all the pressure was on the United States,
[00:26:03.095]to curb the use of its domestic support,
[00:26:05.570]its ag subsidies policies
[00:26:07.109]to bring down a tariffs in the US,
[00:26:09.796]and Europe, and elsewhere.
[00:26:11.667]But, if you now look,
[00:26:12.935]the number one and number two countries
[00:26:15.078]in terms of their spending on agricultural subsidies,
[00:26:17.946]are China and India.
[00:26:19.726]Brazil has risen as the number one
[00:26:22.926]world exporter of soybeans.
[00:26:25.039]We are no longer in a position
[00:26:26.820]where if we reach an agreement at the WTO
[00:26:29.054]and developed countries agree
[00:26:30.684]to cut their tariffs and subsidies but others don't,
[00:26:33.723]it's simply not an economically credible arrangement,
[00:26:36.494]in terms of the impact it would have
[00:26:38.425]on the global agricultural economy.
[00:26:41.263]And, it's not a politically acceptable arrangement either.
[00:26:44.070]There's no way that I could take back to Congress
[00:26:46.756]an agreement that said,
[00:26:48.296]"I'm going to cut my domestic support.
[00:26:50.409]"I'm going to cut my tariffs,
[00:26:52.069]"but our key competitors in the global marketplace,
[00:26:54.786]"Brazil, Argentina, India, China,
[00:26:57.140]"don't have to do a thing"
[00:26:59.313]It no longer is an alliance that can line up
[00:27:02.361]where the appropriate trade-offs take place.
[00:27:04.686]And, so what we did in Nairobi is said,
[00:27:06.830]"What can we harvest from the Doha Round?
[00:27:08.882]"What's still relevant, what matters?"
[00:27:10.999]And, what we were able to do,
[00:27:12.417]were to get all countries to agree
[00:27:14.376]that they would eliminate their export subsidies,
[00:27:16.911]developed and developing alike.
[00:27:19.103]Now part of the reason that was politically possible is
[00:27:21.820]because the United States already took its export
[00:27:24.054]subsidies off the books in the last Farm Bill.
[00:27:26.801]And whereas the European Union used to focus
[00:27:30.030]very heavily on using export subsidies.
[00:27:32.626]Over time, as more and more countries joined the EU,
[00:27:36.580]they couldn't afford the kind of agricultural policy
[00:27:39.720]they used to fund.
[00:27:41.591]And, so their Common Agricultural Policy Reform,
[00:27:45.153]CAP Reform,
[00:27:46.723]has moved them away from export subsidies.
[00:27:49.773]Do you mind, pick up your mic and hold it?
[00:27:52.640]Hold it.
[00:27:53.816]I think you're cutting in the ..
[00:27:55.416]Better?
[00:27:56.774]Had moved away from export subsidies,
[00:27:59.944]and into more ecosystem-type payments,
[00:28:04.019]more of a direct-payment model,
[00:28:05.922]that we familiar with here in Nebraska.
[00:28:08.878]And so, a lot of the political work frankly has been done,
[00:28:12.169]but while developed countries
[00:28:13.921]were moving away from those export subsidies,
[00:28:15.942]we've seen increased usage of those policies,
[00:28:18.356]in places like India
[00:28:19.958]to export sugar, wheat, and some other commodities.
[00:28:23.790]So, it is important that we took those steps
[00:28:26.476]to make sure that countries don't return
[00:28:29.042]to those export subsidy programs
[00:28:31.428]on the developed country side.
[00:28:33.026]And that, developing countries start to go
[00:28:34.777]through the same conversation
[00:28:36.377]we have is developed countries.
[00:28:38.069]and to change our ag policies
[00:28:39.729]more towards risk management,
[00:28:41.380]rather than an export subsidy model.
[00:28:44.278]But, Clayton's absolutely right too,
[00:28:46.904]that the frustration of not being able to find
[00:28:49.502]the right negotiating formula to go forward in Geneva
[00:28:52.671]meant that countries all over the world
[00:28:55.749]started doing these bilateral free trade agreements
[00:28:58.646]and these sort of regional free trade deals.
[00:29:01.755]And, right now we are engaged in that process
[00:29:04.502]with two different sets of countries.
[00:29:06.434]One of those agreements is the TTIP,
[00:29:09.211]the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership.
[00:29:11.505]We are less far along with that process,
[00:29:14.222]but again I think on the EU having dealt with
[00:29:18.387]some of the key repercussions
[00:29:20.319]of our global financial crisis,
[00:29:22.311]still facing some of those challenges,
[00:29:25.028]particularly in member states like Italy
[00:29:27.473]and Greece, and Spain,
[00:29:29.067]who have significant financial difficulties,
[00:29:31.601]they need kind of a shot in the arm.
[00:29:34.831]They need to find a way
[00:29:36.190]to invigorate the European economy
[00:29:38.363]and a deal with the United States
[00:29:40.204]would provide some of that.
[00:29:41.925]And, when we do this trade deals,
[00:29:43.313]they're not just about agriculture.
[00:29:44.853]They cover all goods and services,
[00:29:46.483]manufactured goods, investment,
[00:29:48.989]as Clayton had noted.
[00:29:50.890]And so, integrating the US and EU economies
[00:29:53.486]not only does a lot to stimulate both of our economies,
[00:29:56.414]but sends a big signal to the world.
[00:29:58.350]One, that the Coalitions of the Willing are moving forward.
[00:30:01.459]And two, that we have an optimistic outlook
[00:30:03.723]for invigorating that global economy.
[00:30:05.776]So, it is important.
[00:30:07.226]But if there's any issue
[00:30:09.037]that's going to be difficult to negotiate
[00:30:10.848]between the use of these two identities is agriculture.
[00:30:14.228]And so, we're looking to use this next year,
[00:30:18.303]they, the administration to move these negotiations
[00:30:20.960]forward as far as we possibly can.
[00:30:23.434]But, in order for those negotiations to make a difference,
[00:30:26.181]we not only have to get at agricultural tariffs,
[00:30:29.048]which are far higher in the EU,
[00:30:31.614]than they are in the United States,
[00:30:33.298]but we have to deal with the differences
[00:30:35.411]that we have with the EU
[00:30:36.739]about how they regulate agricultural products,
[00:30:39.214]particularly on the sanitary and phytosanitary,
[00:30:42.655]or the FPS side of things.
[00:30:44.708]That is the animal, and plant,
[00:30:46.943]and human health regulations they put in place.
[00:30:49.508]We have to find a way to deal with trade
[00:30:51.801]in the products of biotechnology,
[00:30:53.763]where the EU's approval system for those products
[00:30:56.540]is slow and infused with a political element
[00:30:59.469]that treat our products unfairly.
[00:31:01.937]We have to find a way
[00:31:03.144]to make that system more timely and predictable,
[00:31:05.710]and to let science be the guide
[00:31:07.370]in making those decisions.
[00:31:09.030]And politically, that's going to be very difficult
[00:31:10.871]in a country I like the EU.
[00:31:13.075]We're also going to need to find a way
[00:31:15.611]to deal with or trade in meat products
[00:31:18.237]where they continue
[00:31:19.685]to not allow the use of of hormones
[00:31:22.474]for example in the production of their beef.
[00:31:24.709]They don't allow pathogen reduction treatments
[00:31:27.426]used in our poultry slaughtering process.
[00:31:31.107]So, we'll have to find a way again,
[00:31:33.129]to allow the acceptance of some of the key methods
[00:31:35.665]that we used to produce our products.
[00:31:37.929]And, I think that's possible,
[00:31:39.801]but I think to do that will require
[00:31:41.641]a great deal of pragmatism
[00:31:43.241]and creativity and political will on all sides
[00:31:46.773]where we can't let the perfect
[00:31:49.157]be the enemy of the good,
[00:31:50.608]but we have to find creative solutions,
[00:31:52.387]that will allow trade to flow,
[00:31:54.349]but also allow ...
[00:31:56.041]You know, I don't think it's realistic
[00:31:57.790]to think that the EU is going to change
[00:31:59.388]all of their underlying laws.
[00:32:01.139]They have to find a way to operate them
[00:32:02.739]in a way that allows us
[00:32:04.248]to better integrate agricultural markets.
[00:32:06.845]The last issue I would raise,
[00:32:09.562]is of course the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
[00:32:11.826]And, Dr. Green talked about the fact,
[00:32:14.964]that he has seen me
[00:32:16.624]in other places around the country.
[00:32:18.103]A lot of my job right now,
[00:32:19.825]is making sure people understand
[00:32:21.363]the benefits of this agreement to US agriculture
[00:32:24.051]and to the US economy, as a whole.
[00:32:26.918]The TPP agreement is critically important,
[00:32:30.177]because it has a unique set of economies at the table.
[00:32:32.984]And, Clayton has touched on this already,
[00:32:34.976]but also because on the rule side,
[00:32:37.300]it creates the highest standards ever,
[00:32:39.836]put together in a trade agreement.
[00:32:42.011]And it creates a real opportunity for us
[00:32:44.425]to raise those standards throughout the region,
[00:32:47.835]and to influence standards then with others,
[00:32:50.944]who would like to do business with that region.
[00:32:53.389]To just talk a little bit about the opportunities here,
[00:32:56.528]we have Japan,
[00:32:57.844]which Clayton mention was critical to bringing others,
[00:33:00.473]and drawing them into this agreement.
[00:33:02.276]It's a high-income high-value customer,
[00:33:05.295]already our number one market
[00:33:07.317]for products like pork and beef,
[00:33:09.245]but they have very high tariffs.
[00:33:11.691]They have complicated quotas,
[00:33:14.467]and administrative processes to get our product in.
[00:33:17.002]So, it's a place where it's difficult to do business,
[00:33:19.357]even though we manage to send them a lot of product.
[00:33:22.544]And, Japan typically has a number of products
[00:33:25.913]that they refuse to put on the table
[00:33:27.875]in trade agreements,
[00:33:29.384]but the allure of these 12 countries,
[00:33:32.010]and the depth of commitment
[00:33:33.761]they were willing to make to each other
[00:33:35.701]allowed to Japan to say,
[00:33:37.142]"Every product, without exception, on the table."
[00:33:40.153]That includes beef, and pork, and dairy,
[00:33:42.446]and wheat, and sugar,
[00:33:43.519]and it importantly, it includes rice;
[00:33:45.724]the most sacred, culturally,
[00:33:48.077]of any product in Japan.
[00:33:50.190]But, they put it on the table,
[00:33:51.699]and we have important new access now,
[00:33:53.541]or we will if we approve TPP,
[00:33:55.593]for all of those products going into Japan.
[00:33:59.246]But, it also includes countries like Vietnam,
[00:34:01.993]who are already
[00:34:03.894]important economic partners with United States
[00:34:06.401]for products like corn, and soybeans,
[00:34:08.331]and skim milk powder;
[00:34:09.721]commodities that they buy faithfully.
[00:34:13.282]90 million people in Vietnam,
[00:34:15.636]but Vietnam is a very rapidly emerging economy,
[00:34:19.289]with a rapidly growing population,
[00:34:21.703]and a population who has more and more
[00:34:24.601]of its members joining the middle class.
[00:34:26.776]And when people join the middle class,
[00:34:28.465]when they have disposable income,
[00:34:29.853]the first thing that change is the way that they eat.
[00:34:32.178]And so we expect that those consumers in Vietnam,
[00:34:35.468]will not only continue to be good customers
[00:34:37.732]for corn, and soybeans, and skim milk powder,
[00:34:40.297]but they'll buy more of them,
[00:34:41.927]as they use them to see their livestock,
[00:34:43.950]and produce protein domestically.
[00:34:46.183]But Vietnam's a small country.
[00:34:47.905]It doesn't have the land or of the crops
[00:34:50.622]it takes to produce all of that livestock themselves.
[00:34:53.790]And so, we also expect that we will sell more
[00:34:56.470]pork, and beef, and poultry, and dairy products,
[00:34:59.277]as well as fresh fruits and vegetables,
[00:35:01.269]as the middle class population design,
[00:35:03.382]creates or has a desire for higher protein,
[00:35:06.725]and a fresher and more nutritious diet.
[00:35:09.291]So, mature markets, high-growth markets,
[00:35:12.310]all together reducing or eliminating
[00:35:14.936]their tariffs for each other,
[00:35:16.566]and at the same time committing to that
[00:35:18.377]highest standard of rules that we talked about.
[00:35:21.184]Brand new rules on those SPS measures,
[00:35:24.052]to make sure that when countries implement
[00:35:26.165]the rules on on health standards,
[00:35:28.308]and animal and plant health standards,
[00:35:30.209]they do it based on science,
[00:35:32.413]they do it in a way that's transparent.
[00:35:34.858]And, where we can settle it
[00:35:36.337]through dispute settlement in the agreement
[00:35:38.239]if we feel that were being treated unfairly.
[00:35:40.563]The highest ever standards
[00:35:42.314]for protection of intellectual property,
[00:35:44.728]the US economy thrives on our creative energy,
[00:35:47.898]and we need to be able to protect that creativity,
[00:35:50.282]and profit from it.
[00:35:51.792]Highest standards ever, in this Agreement;
[00:35:53.814]the highest standards ever negotiated
[00:35:55.613]on labor and the environment.
[00:35:57.543]We know here in this country,
[00:35:59.173]we have to meet certain labor standards.
[00:36:00.954]We have to meet certain environmental standards.
[00:36:02.826]Other countries have signed up
[00:36:04.456]through the TPP to enforce those environmental laws,
[00:36:07.716]to work with us
[00:36:09.315]to try and address environmental problems
[00:36:11.519]like wildlife trafficking, illegal fishing,
[00:36:14.658]that are directly related to trade,
[00:36:17.224]but that have an impact overall on sustainability
[00:36:19.610]for all of us.
[00:36:21.723]They'll address that through this agreement.
[00:36:23.987]And again, subject to dispute settlement;
[00:36:26.038]we'll have to meet those kinds of standards.
[00:36:28.514]So, we think TPP really creates
[00:36:31.080]an important platform,
[00:36:33.495]and that's exactly what it was designed to be.
[00:36:35.667]That we would start with those 12 countries
[00:36:37.931]who were that Coalition of the Willing,
[00:36:40.225]both to come together
[00:36:41.855]to reduce and eliminate their tariffs,
[00:36:43.935]to meet that high standard,
[00:36:45.429]and then invite others to join,
[00:36:47.152]when they are ready to meet that standard too.
[00:36:49.687]And in October, when the 12 first members
[00:36:52.580]all shook hands with one another
[00:36:54.563]within a week of that
[00:36:56.904]a number of different countries,
[00:36:58.888]I believe eight,
[00:37:00.577]made a phone call to my boss,
[00:37:02.072]Ambassador Froman, and said,
[00:37:03.958]"When can we sign up?
[00:37:05.648]"When can we join?"
[00:37:07.111]Once they saw that it was possible
[00:37:08.931]to make that high standard agreement,
[00:37:10.947]they want to be part of the party too.
[00:37:12.832]But, they can't doing that agreement,
[00:37:14.491]until we get it across the finish line,
[00:37:16.343]and we get it through the US Congress.
[00:37:18.586]And, that's really our next step,
[00:37:20.146]is to work to talk to people like all of you,
[00:37:22.812]about what the benefits are.
[00:37:24.795]And one of the criticisms you sometimes hear
[00:37:27.688]about these trade agreements,
[00:37:29.086]is that people don't know what's in them,
[00:37:30.745]that they're negotiated in secret.
[00:37:32.987]What I can tell you is that
[00:37:34.384]all six thousand pages, like Clayton referred to,
[00:37:36.921]are available on the USTR website.
[00:37:39.715]You could read every word if you wanted to.
[00:37:42.251]I don't really see too many hands up
[00:37:43.974]about you know engaging in that activity,
[00:37:47.649]but the good news is on that website
[00:37:50.087]are also summaries of every chapter,
[00:37:52.426]and fact sheets about the market access,
[00:37:55.125]fact sheets related to Nebraska,
[00:37:57.238]talking about exactly what kind of products
[00:37:59.610]that we export the most of,
[00:38:01.073]and how they will benefit.
[00:38:02.568]And so, I would encourage you
[00:38:03.998]to do a little digging
[00:38:05.559]to check out what's important about the TPP,
[00:38:07.818]and how you can help spread that word
[00:38:09.508]with your friends and neighbors,
[00:38:10.906]because that's how we get this done.
[00:38:12.468]This isn't a political issue.
[00:38:14.418]One of the reasons I love to work on trade
[00:38:16.822]is because it's bipartisan,
[00:38:18.545]because the benefits accrue
[00:38:21.178]very broadly to the whole population,
[00:38:24.072]but it's really up to all of you
[00:38:26.054]to kind of tell that story
[00:38:27.485]about how trade impacts you.
[00:38:29.338]What it means for your pockets,
[00:38:31.028]what it means for how then
[00:38:32.523]you spend that money in your communities,
[00:38:34.539]and how the benefits of that agreement reverberate.
[00:38:37.757]And so, that's our next challenge,
[00:38:39.740]is to formally sign that agreement
[00:38:43.187]with the leaders of those other 12 countries
[00:38:45.071]and then present that
[00:38:46.599]to our Congress for consideration.
[00:38:48.614]And, as we are sitting here speaking
[00:38:51.247]I'm not sure what time it is exactly,
[00:38:53.133]the president is preparing,
[00:38:54.726]has not started yet his State of the Union address,
[00:38:57.490]and you will hear tonight at the highest level,
[00:38:59.829]again, pushing very hard for approval
[00:39:03.600]of that agreement this year
[00:39:05.518]to really bring those economic benefits to all of you.
[00:39:09.159]So, with that, I will turn it back to you Dr. Green.
[00:39:12.118](applause)
[00:39:19.106]We're going to have a little bit of open dialogue
[00:39:21.414]between Darci and Clayton.
[00:39:23.624]And as we're doing that,
[00:39:24.990]I would encourage you in the audience,
[00:39:26.778]if you have a question or a comment,
[00:39:29.151]that you'd like direct to direct to
[00:39:31.849]Clayton and Darci, please,
[00:39:33.962]please be thinking about that.
[00:39:35.749]We will have a time with roving mics in the audience
[00:39:38.870]for you to address some questions to them,
[00:39:41.698]here in a few minutes.
[00:39:43.909]So, one of the criticisms,
[00:39:46.574]that we've heard historically about trade,
[00:39:49.500]free trade, and trade agreements,
[00:39:51.873]and we certainly heard that in NAFTA,
[00:39:54.441]I can remember that time period well,
[00:39:57.302]like many of you can in the room,
[00:39:59.416]is fear of loss of American jobs.
[00:40:03.053]So that's often one of the
[00:40:04.539]very first frontline comments
[00:40:08.269]that we hear and we certainly heard that about NAFTA.
[00:40:11.418]Clayton, I heard you make some comments
[00:40:13.336]about that last week.
[00:40:14.961]Any reflections on that?
[00:40:17.725](clears throat) Sure,
[00:40:20.033]because it's ...
[00:40:21.383]Most of that argument is such a sham.
[00:40:23.984]I get to really tired of listening to it,
[00:40:27.332]because it's a part of all this
[00:40:31.308]political demagoguery that you hear,
[00:40:33.606]especially in presidential election years.
[00:40:36.635]I said to somebody earlier today that,
[00:40:39.106]"I just dislike intensely presidential election years,
[00:40:42.909]"because it just mucks everything up
[00:40:44.957]"on international trade
[00:40:46.583]"and it and it takes about a year to a year and a half
[00:40:49.476]"to get everything straightened out again."
[00:40:51.815]But it happens every time
[00:40:54.807]on NAFTA.
[00:40:56.528]Everybody says,
[00:40:57.829]"We need to renegotiate NAFTA."
[00:40:59.423]My answer to that is,
[00:41:01.146]why do you want to renegotiate to
[00:41:03.779]what was the most successful
[00:41:05.468]bilateral trade agreement
[00:41:07.062]in the history of the United States, for God sakes.
[00:41:09.825]That's not the kind of agreement you renegotiate.
[00:41:12.782]NAFTA's been a gigantic success.
[00:41:15.091]And people say, "Oh, we've lost all those jobs to Mexico."
[00:41:18.082]Oh, no we haven't.
[00:41:19.675]There has been no sucking sound to Mexico.
[00:41:23.184]as the results of that agreement.
[00:41:26.144]You don't feel strongly about this?
[00:41:27.801]I do feel strongly,
[00:41:29.259](laughter)
[00:41:30.469]as a matter of fact.
[00:41:31.961]But, you know,
[00:41:34.030]using NAFTA as an example,
[00:41:36.388]when you quadruple trade volumes,
[00:41:39.938]between and among
[00:41:42.167]the US, Canada, and Mexico in 20 years,
[00:41:46.172]you can't tell me you're losing jobs.
[00:41:49.168]With a quadrupling of trade volumes?
[00:41:51.954]Come on now.
[00:41:53.452]There are jobs involved with exports.
[00:41:55.402]There are jobs involved with imports.
[00:41:57.875]There are jobs involved all over the place.
[00:42:00.731]Now, I don't know who calculates these job numbers,
[00:42:03.273]well I do know who, it's the labor unions
[00:42:04.980]who don't like trade agreements period,
[00:42:07.488]but the fact is that's just pure nonsense.
[00:42:13.417]Darci.
[00:42:14.605]I think that in the conversation about trade
[00:42:17.914]we sometimes conflate the issue of globalization as a whole
[00:42:22.233]with a trade agreement as a separate entity
[00:42:26.203]and they're not exactly the same thing.
[00:42:28.747]And it is true that there are industries in the United States
[00:42:31.497]who have faced severe competition
[00:42:33.866]from other developing industries overseas
[00:42:37.175]and that sometimes have trouble competing.
[00:42:39.473]Maybe we have a higher cost of production,
[00:42:41.493]maybe they have a comparative advantage,
[00:42:43.862]which is sort of what trade is all about, right?
[00:42:45.882]It’s that we produce in the way
[00:42:47.275]that we’re more most efficient.
[00:42:49.191]But globalization and increased movement
[00:42:52.186]of goods and services and global integration
[00:42:54.450]of supply chains, that will happen
[00:42:56.888]with or without a free trade agreement
[00:42:59.779]and, you know, I’ll admit, when I first joined USTR,
[00:43:03.471]it was on a short term assignment
[00:43:05.107]and I was kind of skeptical about this whole trade thing.
[00:43:08.381]I had some sympathy for all of those arguments.
[00:43:10.959]And then I realized, as I started to understand
[00:43:13.466]the rules of the WTO,
[00:43:15.452]what it was we were trying to accomplish
[00:43:17.472]in these trade agreements,
[00:43:18.901]not only a commitment to lower our tariffs,
[00:43:20.537]but our commitment to be more transparent
[00:43:22.522]with one another, to allow an opportunity
[00:43:24.890]for notice and comment in rulemaking,
[00:43:27.119]to have asked countries to adopt rules
[00:43:30.010]about better environmental and labor protections.
[00:43:32.971]Why wouldn't we, through a trade agreement,
[00:43:36.245]want to channel our trade
[00:43:38.334]or create incentives to trade more
[00:43:41.469]with countries who are willing
[00:43:43.385]to raise their standards in that way,
[00:43:46.068]than simply to leave globalization to do what it will?
[00:43:49.410]We can, in fact, use those trade agreements
[00:43:52.337]to help level the playing field,
[00:43:54.042]to help raise those standards and reduce the,
[00:43:56.202]both the cost and risk of doing business
[00:43:58.709]and pursue some of our important values,
[00:44:01.273]like labor and environmental protection.
[00:44:03.537]And that's what we're trying to do through TPP.
[00:44:06.358]So, I don't think we should pretend that
[00:44:08.517]if we don't have a trade agreement, there won't be trade.
[00:44:10.955]But if we have a trade agreement,
[00:44:12.592]there's more likely to be rules-based trade.
[00:44:15.239]And Ronnie, I should add that we have lost jobs
[00:44:17.538]in manufacturing in this country.
[00:44:21.558]We haven't lost manufacturing production
[00:44:25.140]because we're still producing
[00:44:27.299]very well in our manufacturing sector.
[00:44:30.434]We’re just doing it with a lot fewer people
[00:44:32.558]working in manufacturing.
[00:44:34.230]But that’s technology.
[00:44:35.658]That's not trade.
[00:44:37.156]Our labor union friends like to blame it on trade,
[00:44:40.081]of course,
[00:44:41.440]but the fact is, it’s technology that has
[00:44:43.982]has caused that and we do have to adjust to that.
[00:44:48.596]So Darci, you talked about the TPP
[00:44:52.158]and the excitement around that,
[00:44:54.738]around this 12 nation pact
[00:44:57.712]and the need now to move that across the finish line,
[00:45:01.369]if you will, in our case, through US Congress.
[00:45:04.780]It's an election year, presidential election year,
[00:45:08.391]as we know, that we've just entered.
[00:45:11.282]So what's the,
[00:45:13.267]tell us about the uphill battle there
[00:45:15.844]or what, how would you characterize
[00:45:18.108]the political landscape relative to the TPP?
[00:45:21.104]Well, I think there's a temptation,
[00:45:22.706]anytime you have an election year,
[00:45:24.134]to say we can't do anything that's hard
[00:45:25.701]in the lead up to a presidential election,
[00:45:28.383]or even congressional elections,
[00:45:30.403]people don't want to have to make a hard decision,
[00:45:32.487]or go on record doing that beforehand.
[00:45:35.238]So I think part of the battle is
[00:45:37.363]to let the agreement speak for itself
[00:45:39.315]and to really talk tangibly about what it means
[00:45:42.935]so that it doesn't have to be as hard a decision.
[00:45:46.000]It can be a decision on the merits
[00:45:48.090]and I think, you know, agriculture is a place
[00:45:50.286]where you can run the numbers
[00:45:52.061]and show that, in fact, there's a huge opportunity here.
[00:45:55.369]I think the other uphill battle is that
[00:45:58.156]it's convenient in the United States where we try to think
[00:46:00.803]just about our own domestic politics to say
[00:46:03.798]there's a world with TPP and the status quo
[00:46:07.107]and that those are the important bits of comparison
[00:46:10.241]and that's just not true.
[00:46:12.296]There's the world with TPP and a world without TPP,
[00:46:16.059]but that world is moving on without us.
[00:46:18.879]Current members of TPP are negotiating amongst themselves
[00:46:22.884]and implementing bilateral deals.
[00:46:24.766]Almost every one of those TPP partners
[00:46:27.482]is also negotiating with Europe
[00:46:29.643]for preferential access to their markets.
[00:46:32.149]So if we choose not to implement TPP,
[00:46:34.831]we will be the country on the outside
[00:46:37.269]of others who have given preferential access
[00:46:39.463]to each other and we will miss the opportunity
[00:46:42.355]to set the rules of the road for how we do business
[00:46:45.316]in that region.
[00:46:46.812]I think of TPP as giving us the opportunity to export,
[00:46:49.877]not just our products, but our way of doing business,
[00:46:53.116]the kinds of standards that we like to implement,
[00:46:55.484]the transparency we put forward to the world.
[00:46:57.887]There are others with competing models out there
[00:47:00.848]to TPP, the largest of which is called the RCEP.
[00:47:04.366]It's an agreement led by China,
[00:47:06.072]the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
[00:47:08.754]It includes all of our other TPP partners,
[00:47:11.263]other Asian countries like India,
[00:47:13.179]but you might not be surprised to hear
[00:47:15.617]that it doesn't have high standards
[00:47:17.984]for the protection of intellectual property.
[00:47:20.004]There are not chapters on labor and environment protection.
[00:47:23.138]And so, if we want to be the country that says,
[00:47:25.576]“Here are the kinds of things you need to do
[00:47:27.422]“to do business in the Asia Pacific.”
[00:47:29.651]We need to lead the way
[00:47:31.393]and make sure that we adopt the standard
[00:47:33.483]that others will then come to meet.
[00:47:35.469]So again, we are currently at a tariff disadvantage already.
[00:47:39.160]Other countries are completing deals
[00:47:41.458]that will put is at a further disadvantage
[00:47:43.548]and we frankly just can't afford to wait.
[00:47:45.812]I think that’s a really great answer.
[00:47:48.389]Can I embellish it a little bit with a couple of things?
[00:47:52.081]You know, one of the advantages
[00:47:54.799]of an agreement like TPP
[00:47:57.306]is that there are benefits to those on the inside
[00:48:01.243]versus those who are on the outside.
[00:48:03.714]And we’re on the inside in TPP.
[00:48:06.849]So let's take advantage of it.
[00:48:08.695]You know, we cannot take advantage of it
[00:48:10.367]if we don't have the TPP agreement.
[00:48:12.282]Using NAFTA, just as an example of that,
[00:48:15.904]one of the great things about NAFTA
[00:48:17.855]that nobody ever talks about is the fact
[00:48:20.188]that it has made these three countries,
[00:48:22.870]Canada, the US, and Mexico,
[00:48:25.308]a lot more internationally competitive
[00:48:28.061]as North American, not as individual countries
[00:48:31.577]but we now have a North American
[00:48:34.156]competitive advantage, a slew of things
[00:48:37.672]as a result of NAFTA
[00:48:39.729]and that’s been one of the benefits
[00:48:41.713]‘cause we're on the inside of NAFTA,
[00:48:43.802]everybody else is on the outside looking in
[00:48:46.763]and it’s been very, very advantageous.
[00:48:49.271]Just to give you one example,
[00:48:51.048]Procter and Gamble told me when we were negotiating
[00:48:53.486]the US Canada Free Trade Agreement
[00:48:56.027]that they would save $65 million a year,
[00:49:00.242]which doesn't seem like much now
[00:49:01.809]but it was a lot of money then,
[00:49:03.307]simply by moving things north and south
[00:49:05.431]instead of the east and west,
[00:49:07.033]which they could begin to do
[00:49:08.844]under the US Canada Free Trade Agreement
[00:49:11.457]and they couldn't do feasibly without that agreement.
[00:49:14.384]But that's the advantage of being on the inside of TPP
[00:49:18.806]rather than on the outside.
[00:49:21.104]Now that leads to the next question,
[00:49:23.856]which Darci commented on earlier
[00:49:26.433]is that if TPP is approved, as we hope it will,
[00:49:30.961]there's gonna be, what I call, a second trounce
[00:49:34.236]of TPP negotiations pretty darn quickly.
[00:49:37.404]and she said, you know, these people are lined up,
[00:49:40.365]they’re calling Ambassador Froman saying,
[00:49:43.360]“Hey when can we get in?”
[00:49:45.763]And, you know, there are some excellent
[00:49:49.002]agricultural export opportunities in that group.
[00:49:52.764]Darci, you had mentioned some of those countries
[00:49:55.482]and what their potential might be.
[00:49:58.094]Very publicly, already,
[00:50:00.358]Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea,
[00:50:03.144]with whom we already have a free trade agreement,
[00:50:05.234]but can, again, even raise the standards of that
[00:50:07.504]agreement by having them come into TPP
[00:50:10.186]and just a month after we concluded TPP,
[00:50:12.798]the president of Indonesia visited Washington
[00:50:15.132]and declared there that they envisioned themselves
[00:50:18.058]as part of that TPP alliance.
[00:50:20.635]Again, huge populations, a huge economic growth
[00:50:23.874]in this countries, a big opportunity.
[00:50:26.208]So, we’ve mentioned a little bit
[00:50:28.820]of the elephant in the room
[00:50:30.805]through the night
[00:50:31.989]in the BRICS
[00:50:33.452]and led by China.
[00:50:35.611]We think about China a lot
[00:50:38.016]as a big player in the world
[00:50:41.393]and big player in the world agriculturally
[00:50:44.214]in terms of market.
[00:50:45.956]Do you ever see a day
[00:50:48.080]when there might, you know,
[00:50:50.555]an opportunity for free trade
[00:50:52.852]or an agreement with China?
[00:50:54.872]That's crystal ball gazing, big time,
[00:50:57.275]but, you know, any thoughts there?
[00:51:00.270]I think what's interesting is that
[00:51:02.012]when we started the TPP,
[00:51:03.649]when the US sort of joined that original four countries
[00:51:06.714]that Clayton talked about, China started grumbling
[00:51:09.710]and they said, “Oh, this is just an effort to isolate us.
[00:51:12.286]“We were suspicious of what is happening here.”
[00:51:15.909]But China's public comments about the TPP
[00:51:18.660]has changed as we made progress
[00:51:20.959]and then we achieve success
[00:51:22.805]and now you’ve seen publicly some of those officials
[00:51:25.521]saying, “We're gonna evaluate closely
[00:51:28.170]“what this agreement looks like.
[00:51:29.875]“If this becomes a model, we could look at this.”
[00:51:32.417]And so, you know, I think already
[00:51:34.194]they’re sort of understanding that if, in fact,
[00:51:36.667]this becomes a platform that’s large enough,
[00:51:39.209]they will want to be part of the group
[00:51:41.194]and not outside of it.
[00:51:43.005]And again, you know, some of the problems we faced
[00:51:45.304]with on trade, there are provisions in TPP
[00:51:47.707]that would help prevent future problems.
[00:51:50.760]And you know, we should add, where the BRICS are
[00:51:55.245]concerned that, you know, things do change.
[00:52:00.248]They don't always stay the same
[00:52:02.547]and example within the BRICS most recently is Argentina.
[00:52:06.609]Argentina finally threw out a government
[00:52:09.499]that it should have thrown a long time ago just recently
[00:52:13.260]and pretty, put a pretty darned
[00:52:16.917]friendly government in place
[00:52:19.251]and one that is gonna be a lot much,
[00:52:21.412]much more oriented toward free and open trade.
[00:52:24.684]So there’s one BRIC that may change significantly
[00:52:29.038]and if that happens, you could see that beginning to
[00:52:34.402]have an impact elsewhere in Latin America
[00:52:37.641]including with Brazil.
[00:52:39.591]Brazil has its own set of challenges right now
[00:52:42.760]but Brazil is then, I don’t,
[00:52:45.756]I have never considered Brazil a hopeless cause, either.
[00:52:49.030]When we did the Uruguay Round,
[00:52:51.677]we were finally able to
[00:52:54.115]to bring that to a successful conclusion
[00:52:56.797]because we were able to break Brazil off from India
[00:53:00.906]and Brazil finally agreed to vote for
[00:53:04.703]the Uruguay Round agreement
[00:53:06.827]and that left India isolated and finally India said,
[00:53:10.728]“Well, we better just give up the ship.”
[00:53:13.689]It’s been a little more difficult in the Doha Round
[00:53:16.370]because China helped out with Brazil and India.
[00:53:20.585]That gave a lot more opposition
[00:53:23.719]to what was going on in the Doha Round
[00:53:26.542]but I also agree with Darci.
[00:53:28.665]I don't think you can conclude
[00:53:30.547]that China is gonna be out of this picture for forever.
[00:53:34.133]I hope they're not.
[00:53:36.294]Okay, with that, we’re going to open up the floor
[00:53:39.741]for questions from the audience.
[00:53:42.480]So, if you have a question, please raise your hand.
[00:53:45.615]We have roving mics on each side.
[00:53:47.879]Jesse is over to my far right,
[00:53:50.456]Jill is in the center aisle
[00:53:52.406]and we'll get a microphone to use
[00:53:54.357]so that we can hear your question.
[00:53:57.143]Rick Goodman has a question to start.
[00:53:59.372]Yeah, thank you, great talks
[00:54:01.079]and appreciate it very much.
[00:54:02.855]It seems, I've been working on
[00:54:05.363]genetically engineered crops for like 18 years
[00:54:08.011]and then India and China and so forth.
[00:54:10.623]In some ways, it seems like the issues of question,
[00:54:14.977]people driving and a lot of it’s through NGOs
[00:54:17.797]or governments driving blockage in trade.
[00:54:22.255]It focuses on questions of safety
[00:54:26.225]that are rather hypothetical and we have code X
[00:54:28.872]and we have guidelines that are supposed to help us
[00:54:31.380]reach international consensus about
[00:54:33.959]these products are safe and if it's been grown in the US
[00:54:36.674]since ‘96, hopefully it's okay for India and China today.
[00:54:41.376]How can, I mean, is that becoming the next big stumbling
[00:54:45.521]block rather than tariffs, in terms of agricultural trade?
[00:54:49.665]Okay, go ahead Darci.
[00:54:51.755]Well, yes I think you're absolutely right that
[00:54:54.611]in many cases, these sanitary and phytosanitary rules,
[00:54:58.790]these food safety rules are, in fact,
[00:55:01.125]more difficult trade barriers to overcome than tariffs.
[00:55:04.260]I mean, tariffs you can overcome with math, right?
[00:55:06.209]You can agree to bring it down or apply a formula.
[00:55:09.659]It's much harder.
[00:55:11.294]On the biotech front, I think there is a lot of objection
[00:55:14.951]that comes in the form of safety
[00:55:17.354]but I don't think the governments themselves
[00:55:19.759]are actually that concerned about the safety
[00:55:22.509]of consuming those products.
[00:55:24.461]I think in some cases they do have, still,
[00:55:26.793]some concerns about cultivating those products
[00:55:29.685]and whether, in fact, they can,
[00:55:32.588]you know, there are certain stewardship obligations
[00:55:35.112]that farmers have when they grow some of those crops.
[00:55:38.421]That's not always easy to enforce
[00:55:40.440]or to make sure they’re adhered to.
[00:55:42.390]So I think, setting aside cultivation,
[00:55:44.168]I think most government officials,
[00:55:46.395]even from governments that disagree with our policy
[00:55:50.263]on biotech products would look at me and say,
[00:55:53.710]“Our scientific authorities are in agreement
[00:55:56.287]“but our public isn't there yet.”
[00:55:58.586]And so they raise the safety question
[00:56:01.060]but it's really more of a question as
[00:56:03.253]does the public think it’s safe?
[00:56:05.342]You know, in some cases, though,
[00:56:07.599]the safety question is, can be a guise for
[00:56:11.257]we wanna develop this industry in our country first
[00:56:14.530]before we let in too many competitors.
[00:56:17.533]Or I think the fact that these crops were first developed
[00:56:22.653]via very large agricultural companies
[00:56:26.170]that there is growing, sort of, public unease
[00:56:30.251]about concentration and agriculture.
[00:56:32.405]I'm sure many of you have heard that
[00:56:34.460]and I think sometimes the anti biotech attitude
[00:56:37.734]is a proxy for this attitude
[00:56:40.450]for fear that if products are let in, they’ll sort of swamp
[00:56:43.271]local businesses or other industries
[00:56:45.988]and so, we hear the safety argument a lot
[00:56:48.774]and then you have to try and unpack
[00:56:50.586]whether it's really safety or some other lying
[00:56:53.511]underlying things and I think even in the US
[00:56:56.437]we don't do a very good job of communicating the safety
[00:57:00.372]and we’ve sort of seated the conversation,
[00:57:03.089]I think less so in the US than some other countries
[00:57:06.154]to the NGO community who has talked about
[00:57:09.672]what these things mean and communicating risk
[00:57:12.563]and relative risk and safety is really hard
[00:57:15.941]to the general public and I think we kind of waited too long
[00:57:20.051]to be able to get that right on the biotech front
[00:57:22.698]and it's an area where we hope to work with
[00:57:24.788]our trading partners to help reduce that resistance.
[00:57:27.435]Darci’s right, government officials by and large
[00:57:30.813]know better, I mean, that is, they know that safety
[00:57:34.644]is not really an issue here at all.
[00:57:37.674]This is fundamentally a question of
[00:57:41.506]the involvement of activist groups.
[00:57:44.779]It's the NGO community.
[00:57:47.060]When I was USTR, we had very little involvement
[00:57:52.008]with all these different activist groups
[00:57:54.984]on trade, in the development of trade policy positions.
[00:57:59.166]Now they're all over the place.
[00:58:01.534]And in Germany thousands of them that demonstrate.
[00:58:05.505]They’re infinitely more active now
[00:58:08.779]and they're, fundamentally just troublemakers.
[00:58:12.053]So, it becomes a question that whether they have more
[00:58:16.894]political influence than those of us who know better.
[00:58:20.342]And the fact is, in a lot of areas,
[00:58:22.014]they have more political influence
[00:58:23.860]than those of us who know better.
[00:58:25.845]Now in terms of the rules of the game,
[00:58:29.815]as you point out, we’ve got Codex Alimentarius
[00:58:33.054]and we've got rules of the World Trade Organization
[00:58:38.108]and the fact is, by and large, in fact, more than that,
[00:58:42.702]almost all the time, when we bring a case
[00:58:46.612]in the dispute settlement
[00:58:48.658]or under the dispute settlement rules of the WTO,
[00:58:51.858]and we have a good case, we win
[00:58:54.226]and my personal view is that we, the United States,
[00:58:57.430]we oughta bring more cases to the WTO
[00:59:00.356]in sanitary phytosanitary issues than we do.
[00:59:03.595]Now, when that comes up, as it did,
[00:59:05.929]for example, in Mad Cow Disease,
[00:59:08.400]the people will say, “Oh gosh, we don’t wanna do that.”
[00:59:11.815]and “It’s gonna cost us a bunch of money,”
[00:59:13.904]and into, and it’ll be four, five years
[00:59:16.586]before we get a final decision out of the WTO
[00:59:20.383]and, you know, we don't wanna wait that long.
[00:59:23.343]Let's see what we can do now.
[00:59:25.363]Well, the fact was, they waited four or five years
[00:59:27.906]under Mad Cow Disease and got nothing done.
[00:59:30.378]Eventually, it was worked out
[00:59:33.165]but it would have been worked out a heck of a lot sooner
[00:59:35.742]had we done a WTO case on Mad Cow Disease.
[00:59:40.270]So we gotta be careful that we don't
[00:59:42.791]forgo the opportunity of winning some of these cases
[00:59:47.529]and establishing a precedent that has value.
[00:59:52.385]Jesse, I think you have a question here on the--
[00:59:56.114](microphone buzzing loudly) That’s very loud.
[00:59:58.203]To Ambassador Vetter, I had a question about
[01:00:00.959]you had mentioned that in your trade agreements
[01:00:04.479]they generally have provisions for environmental protection,
[01:00:07.405]like to prevent wildlife trading and whatnot.
[01:00:11.027]I was wondering if they will also include
[01:00:13.779]provisions for commodities that are produced
[01:00:16.948]in regions that are facing pressure
[01:00:19.665]due to water scarcity
[01:00:21.267]and, kind of, the issues around taking domestic water,
[01:00:26.346]producing an agricultural commodity
[01:00:29.028]and then exporting it to another country.
[01:00:30.769]Is there work being done to protect
[01:00:34.008]domestic water sources, like in California, for instance?
[01:00:38.432]Well, there’s certainly a lot of work being done,
[01:00:41.218]I think, in the US and elsewhere
[01:00:43.170]to look at water conservation issues or to have a bet,
[01:00:47.104]a good discussion about what is the best use
[01:00:49.716]of agricultural land and water scarce areas.
[01:00:52.433]But that's largely a domestic decision
[01:00:55.324]and so I think we have to be a little bit careful about
[01:00:58.389]what we can do with trade agreements
[01:01:00.200]and what are effectively best done through the
[01:01:04.344]environmental agencies of those countries
[01:01:08.943]or through the agricultural authority of those countries.
[01:01:11.730]One of the rules of trade is that
[01:01:13.609]once a product is produced,
[01:01:15.315]the product should be judged on its merits and equally.
[01:01:18.715]The, sort of, the first rule of trade is national treatment.
[01:01:21.292]That, you know, an import should not be treated
[01:01:24.010]differently than a domestic product
[01:01:26.342]and it all should be treated, sort of, fairly
[01:01:29.442]in the marketplace but making sure
[01:01:33.273]the way that you designate natural resources
[01:01:36.094]that you are the most competitive.
[01:01:37.905]There's a lot of domestic policy underlying that
[01:01:40.587]in terms of what incentives you create for production,
[01:01:43.966]how you increase efficiency in your country,
[01:01:46.682]as in those are largely domestic decisions.
[01:01:50.061]So there’s not something in the trade agreement persay.
[01:01:52.986]What we have done is taken those
[01:01:55.947]those issues where the actual trade of the product
[01:02:01.067]is an, is critical to the environmental outcome
[01:02:05.490]and said that these TPP countries that are in green
[01:02:08.625]to effectively enforce their own environmental laws,
[01:02:11.552]to implement the multilateral environmental
[01:02:14.754]agreements they’ve signed up to.
[01:02:16.950]Should also be saying what about the trade relationships
[01:02:19.708]between us on those key products in the region
[01:02:23.435]where the fact that we’re already working together
[01:02:26.014]as trade officials, as customs officials
[01:02:28.137]where we can make a difference.
[01:02:29.774]And, you know, Southeast Asia has been a hotbed
[01:02:32.212]for trade in illegal timber, for example,
[01:02:34.721]for wildlife trafficking.
[01:02:36.985]Unregulated fishing is a real problem in that area
[01:02:40.222]that not only undermines the trade
[01:02:41.999]and legitimate fisheries products
[01:02:44.158]but is undermining the food security
[01:02:46.284]of small villages that are dependent on healthy fisheries
[01:02:49.419]for their food security.
[01:02:51.403]And so, it's precisely the cooperation
[01:02:53.666]among those TPP officials that can have
[01:02:56.385]very specific environmental, positive environmental impact
[01:03:00.806]by focusing on the trade aspect
[01:03:03.210]and so we took some time to say what are those
[01:03:05.893]and how can we, in a trade agreement,
[01:03:08.331]really make a difference by focusing on that.
[01:03:10.839]Clayton.
[01:03:12.195]All I would add to that, and I was a fine answer,
[01:03:14.877]is that we gotta be careful
[01:03:17.489]we don't put too heavy a burden
[01:03:19.858]on trade officials to solve all the problems of the world.
[01:03:24.004]‘Cause you just can't do that.
[01:03:26.998]One of the real success stories in trade
[01:03:31.177]is that we've had, kind of, a manageable agenda
[01:03:34.279]in trade policy in the world over the last 50 years
[01:03:38.876]and we’ve done pretty well.
[01:03:41.941]The fact of the matter is, I think there's been
[01:03:44.134]more success globally in international trade
[01:03:47.373]than there is in anything else.
[01:03:49.255]I mean, look at trade versus foreign policy right now.
[01:03:52.005]Foreign policy’s a mess in this world
[01:03:55.071]and trade is doing pretty darn well under the circumstances
[01:03:59.284]so let’s not muck it up
[01:04:01.271]by putting some things in that can be
[01:04:04.613]more troublesome than anything else.
[01:04:06.633]I'll give you a specific example
[01:04:08.481]that’s always been one of my pet peeves.
[01:04:10.919]And it came up, has come out to some degree in the
[01:04:15.131]in the TTIP negotiations and then also in
[01:04:19.739]in TPP, and that is do you work on
[01:04:23.673]currency exchange rates in these trade agreements?
[01:04:27.540]My view has been that you should not
[01:04:30.255]and that's been the view of the trade officials.
[01:04:33.703]I can tell you one reason that I don't like,
[01:04:37.256]totally aside from the merits of the issue,
[01:04:39.833]I don't want the finance ministers
[01:04:41.679]muckin’ around in trade policy.
[01:04:43.978]I want trade policy run by Mike Froman,
[01:04:48.089]the USTR in this country.
[01:04:50.212]I don't want it run by the Secretary of the Treasury.
[01:04:52.791]So let's keep all these blankety blank
[01:04:54.740]finance issues off of the trade agenda.
[01:04:59.414]Thank you, Clayton.
[01:05:00.485]Mr. Holzfaster, I think, has a question.
[01:05:04.759]We're really a wash in commodities
[01:05:07.775]and agricultural exports are really important
[01:05:10.387]especially to Nebraskans, and everybody knows that.
[01:05:13.417]But the question I have is
[01:05:16.726]in the magazines I read and everything, they say
[01:05:20.035]the value of the dollar is so high
[01:05:22.335]and so the exports are down somewhat
[01:05:25.747]and I wondered how you equate
[01:05:27.976]the value of the dollar to the
[01:05:31.503]the money supply and demand in the world,
[01:05:34.592]the Yens and the Reals and all that
[01:05:36.579]and how does that affect our exports?
[01:05:38.702]Well, it does affect our exports and we do get
[01:05:42.045]hurt when we have a very strong dollar
[01:05:44.589]as we do from time to time.
[01:05:46.956]All I would say to that is that, you know,
[01:05:49.743]what goes up comes down
[01:05:51.207]and what goes down comes up.
[01:05:52.808]This is a marketplace phenomenon
[01:05:55.629]and, you know, it's gonna, if it's outta line, Ralph,
[01:05:59.843]and I'm not saying that it is, but if it is
[01:06:02.701]it’ll come back in line at some point.
[01:06:05.172]There's been a lot of criticism, the Chinese,
[01:06:07.577]for having their exchange rate too low.
[01:06:10.048]Well, a little while back, they got a little too high.
[01:06:13.672]They had to bring it back down.
[01:06:15.413]So, you know, I think these things pretty well work out
[01:06:19.800]over time because companies adjust
[01:06:23.283]and sometimes it's really hard to adjust
[01:06:25.617]but it happens.
[01:06:27.706]Now, in the short run where
[01:06:30.458]where we have a very strong dollar,
[01:06:32.965]vis a vis a lot of these other currencies
[01:06:35.266]I can understand that there’s some hurt involved.
[01:06:39.619]Brazil with a very weak Real right now,
[01:06:43.240]course is in a wonderful position,
[01:06:46.167]providing they produce anything
[01:06:48.315]in all the turmoil that they’re under now.
[01:06:53.017]But I just don't think you can deal
[01:06:58.728]with the exchange rate question
[01:07:01.479]in a trade agreement.
[01:07:03.395]I think what you have to do if you can,
[01:07:06.460]that is, if you're a company, is hedge your risks.
[01:07:10.606]I sat on a Michigan company that does
[01:07:14.785]a lot of business in Brazil
[01:07:17.398]and they were slow in the hedging
[01:07:19.939]the dollar versus the Real
[01:07:22.274]and I gave ‘em a pretty hard time.
[01:07:24.780]I said, “You know, why have you folks been sitting
[01:07:26.904]“on your derriere watching the Real go down?
[01:07:30.527]“You should have been hedging.”
[01:07:33.001]“Well, we now have a hedging program in place,”
[01:07:35.857]in that company, but they were little slow
[01:07:38.328]and it cost us some money.
[01:07:42.831]Fred Bruning, and it will come back over to
[01:07:44.994]Don Hutchens, I think is closer, Fred.
[01:07:46.874]Thank you both for being here this evening
[01:07:49.555]and spending time with us.
[01:07:51.053]My question is with the opening of Cuba
[01:07:53.038]are you currently working on any agreements
[01:07:55.233]and what is the potential for the ag products
[01:07:57.287]in the Cuban market?
[01:07:59.342]Go ahead, Darci.
[01:08:00.770]Well, I think, first of all, we have taken some steps
[01:08:03.835]in the administration to make it easier
[01:08:06.066]to trade in agricultural products with Cuba.
[01:08:10.279]We’ve released some of the financial restrictions
[01:08:12.543]that were in place about how those transactions can move.
[01:08:15.608]But, before we can deepen,
[01:08:18.778]and of course we have now reopened diplomatic relations
[01:08:21.739]and we have our embassy
[01:08:23.618]for the first time there in many, many years,
[01:08:25.744]but before we can really restore those relations,
[01:08:29.678]or look at any sort of deepening of trade ties,
[01:08:32.013]we have to end the embargo
[01:08:33.581]and only Congress can do that.
[01:08:35.671]But, you know, they’re 90 miles off of our shore,
[01:08:38.595]their own production of agricultural products
[01:08:42.356]is significantly outdated,
[01:08:45.386]they need help on the technology side,
[01:08:48.068]they need help with, you know, new seed varieties,
[01:08:52.388]irrigation technologies.
[01:08:54.407]I think if we were to fully normalize those relations,
[01:08:57.703]there's a huge opportunity for two-way trade
[01:09:00.106]and for investment back and forth that could be realized.
[01:09:04.147]They certainly would benefit from easier flow
[01:09:07.664]of US commodities at this point in time
[01:09:10.033]that they need to feed their population.
[01:09:12.331]I'll give you the political answer
[01:09:14.421]that Darci cannot give you.
[01:09:16.791](laughter)
[01:09:19.846]Thank you, Clayton.
[01:09:22.560]And that is, it's not about to happen in 2016
[01:09:26.343]as a presidential election year
[01:09:28.398]because Florida is too important a state
[01:09:31.010]and everybody's gonna try to figure out how to
[01:09:34.353]play Cuba in the context of the Florida politics.
[01:09:38.254]So it's gonna get pushed to 2017
[01:09:41.319]but the additional answer is, Darci is correct in that
[01:09:45.185]the embargoes gotta be lifted.
[01:09:47.102]It's gonna be lifted,
[01:09:48.494]it’s just a question of soon.
[01:09:50.026]I hope it gets lifted in 2017
[01:09:52.430]by whomever the next administration is.
[01:09:55.140]We need to get rid of that thing.
[01:09:56.882]Once we do, that economy will explode.
[01:10:00.817]I mean, it'll be capitalism all over again.
[01:10:03.464]And you're gonna see gigantic amounts
[01:10:06.494]of investment moving in.
[01:10:08.236]Not just US investment, but European
[01:10:10.500]and Canadian and others as well.
[01:10:13.986]And it’ll provide some nice opportunities once that happens
[01:10:18.650]and it will happen very rapidly.
[01:10:22.176]Many of you’ve heard the story
[01:10:24.161]of one of our former governors
[01:10:25.694]who listened to Fidel Castro exposit
[01:10:29.177]for a number of hours,
[01:10:30.953]so perhaps it'll pay off, we’ll see, we’ll see.
[01:10:33.391]Don Hutchens.
[01:10:35.202]Well first, I just wanna thank both of you.
[01:10:37.905]Clayton, I remember lead one when we came to Chicago
[01:10:41.039]and met with you and you were with the Board of Trade
[01:10:43.617]and Darci, your willingness to meet with
[01:10:46.333]the commodity organizations,
[01:10:48.005]whether in be the US Grains Council,
[01:10:49.712]US Meat Export Federation and all those that are
[01:10:52.219]helping us to the job of promoting our commodities.
[01:10:55.702]But I guess, Darci you mentioned something earlier that
[01:10:58.837]you would hope that a Congress
[01:11:02.043]would view a good, the merits of a good agreement
[01:11:05.700]and I guess you haven't mentioned TPA yet,
[01:11:09.460]Trade Promotion Authority,
[01:11:11.341]and would you both reference the pros and cons of a
[01:11:15.032]of a TPA and what role it plays between the administration
[01:11:18.376]and the legislative branch of helping you do your job
[01:11:22.138]of finally taking a good agreement
[01:11:24.541]and getting it into US passage?
[01:11:28.720]That's a great question and I think we didn't really
[01:11:32.134]take the time to talk about what is exactly the process
[01:11:34.920]by which these agreements are considered
[01:11:37.114]and we were able to pass through bipartisan participation,
[01:11:41.225]Trade Promotion Authority earlier this year,
[01:11:43.663]or last year now, and what Trade Promotion Authority is
[01:11:47.423]is sort of a deal between the administration and Congress
[01:11:50.629]about how you can negotiate the best agreement
[01:11:53.170]and then pass it and essentially Congress agrees
[01:11:56.618]that they will consider a trade agreement
[01:12:00.310]once it's completed on an up or down vote,
[01:12:02.713]with no amendment and that's important for me,
[01:12:05.848]as a negotiator, so that I can look my colleague in the eye
[01:12:08.914]and say, “Really, that's it.
[01:12:10.411]“Here's the deal, we're gonna shake hands.”
[01:12:12.117]And so, each of us can get to our real bottom line
[01:12:14.869]and not be afraid that when the agreement
[01:12:17.167]finally gets to the floor of our Congress,
[01:12:19.396]that a senator here or a congresswoman there
[01:12:21.939]doesn't say, “Well, I just want a little bit more of this,”
[01:12:24.899]because that can unravel the whole deal.
[01:12:27.616]But in exchange for giving up their right to amend,
[01:12:30.820]there are a number of things that TPA requires
[01:12:33.711]of me is a negotiator and of the administration as a whole.
[01:12:37.126]And the first is that Congress put together a series
[01:12:39.493]of negotiating objectives that they expect us to attain.
[01:12:43.916]So, it’s sort of your, out of the gate,
[01:12:46.772]you know this is the standard you have to live up to
[01:12:49.489]and of course it has very high standard objectives
[01:12:51.996]for the elimination of tariffs,
[01:12:53.947]for the inclusion of the science basis
[01:12:56.371]for sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
[01:12:59.122]Things like that on the agriculture side.
[01:13:01.922]And there are trade negotiating objectives
[01:13:03.768]for sort of all of the areas in the trade agreement.
[01:13:06.868]And then, during the negotiation, TPA requires
[01:13:10.142]very specific procedures for how we have to consult
[01:13:14.391]with the proper committees in Congress.
[01:13:16.620]Myself, I consult regularly with the Agriculture Committees
[01:13:20.138]and with the White House Ways and Means
[01:13:22.611]and Senate Finance Committee
[01:13:24.074]on the progress that we’re making,
[01:13:25.536]how we, how it is we plan to achieve those objectives,
[01:13:28.601]what tradeoffs and timelines we might need
[01:13:31.318]to be able to get to the best possible outcome.
[01:13:33.826]So, the members of Congress have an opportunity
[01:13:35.776]to help shape the agreement as we go
[01:13:37.796]and to give, sort of, their advice and guidance
[01:13:39.886]as the negotiations develop.
[01:13:42.219]So, by the time we actually shake hands,
[01:13:44.727]for those members who have chosen to be engaged,
[01:13:47.374]there shouldn't be any surprises.
[01:13:49.011]We've been checking in pretty regularly.
[01:13:51.484]But TPA also puts in some specific requires
[01:13:54.514]for transparency.
[01:13:56.325]And so, in October we shook hands
[01:13:58.659]and with our 11 other countries and said,
[01:14:00.749]“This is it, we’ve reached agreement, we’ve concluded.”
[01:14:03.291]Shortly thereafter, the president notified Congress
[01:14:05.973]of his intent to enter into this agreement.
[01:14:08.655]That started a 90 day clock
[01:14:11.476]and 30 days into that clock, we had to publish
[01:14:15.203]the entire agreement, make it available
[01:14:17.919]to Congress and the public.
[01:14:19.695]So, we’re almost 60 days now,
[01:14:21.263]all of you have had the chance to start up on
[01:14:23.178]that six thousand pages of reading that you all have to do.
[01:14:26.870]I think there’s a message there.
[01:14:29.341]So, again, proper time for stakeholders, for Congress,
[01:14:33.801]for the general public to evaluate what’s in the deal
[01:14:36.920]and whether it's worth it.
[01:14:39.115]And then, after 90 days, the president can sign
[01:14:42.180]that agreement the the leaders of the other countries.
[01:14:44.548]And we’re looking toward figuring out when
[01:14:47.160]the appropriate time is to make that signing happen.
[01:14:50.225]That 90 day clock runs out in the relatively near future,
[01:14:53.464]the next few weeks.
[01:14:55.101]Once the agreement is signed,
[01:14:57.156]the president can then submit the implementing bill,
[01:15:00.082]the bill that Congress would pass to Congress
[01:15:03.007]and then there are specific time lines
[01:15:04.958]for how long each committee
[01:15:07.222]and then how long on the floor of the House and Senate
[01:15:10.078]that they have to consider it and take that up or down vote.
[01:15:13.735]So that is the process that’s in place.
[01:15:16.068]That's how we’re able to reach agreement
[01:15:18.263]and then have Congress approve an agreement
[01:15:20.840]and not, sort of, unravel the deal that we’ve made.
[01:15:25.604]I would, and that’s a superb answer,
[01:15:28.614]but let me just add one point.
[01:15:30.982]As Ambassador Vetter indicated,
[01:15:35.011]there isn't time for her to consult with everybody
[01:15:39.319]on Capitol Hill, all 500 plus members of Congress,
[01:15:42.872]she has to focus on the Senate House ag committees
[01:15:46.947]and the Senate Finance Committee
[01:15:49.246]and the House Ways and Means Committee,
[01:15:50.883]which are the two trade committees.
[01:15:52.346]So it’s those four committees
[01:15:54.226]and then the overall leadership of the Congress,
[01:15:57.396]meaning people like Speaker Ryan on the House side
[01:16:01.680]and Senator McConnell on the Senate side.
[01:16:05.511]So there's a relatively small number of people
[01:16:08.506]that she has to pay a lot of attention to.
[01:16:11.571]But if she does that well,
[01:16:13.556]and she will do it on a bipartisan basis,
[01:16:16.273]as she indicated, you know,
[01:16:18.189]worry about whether they’re Democrats or Republicans
[01:16:20.453]you gotta cover ‘em all.
[01:16:22.194]If she does that well, she will handle the
[01:16:26.228]the approval of the agricultural parts at least
[01:16:29.864]of a trade agreement, very well, indeed.
[01:16:33.033]Last question, Al Schweiger, over to our right.
[01:16:37.108]Is this on?
[01:16:39.303]Yep.
[01:16:40.591]As a livestock producer
[01:16:42.402]for many years in Nebraska
[01:16:44.283]most of us would like to use the latest technologies
[01:16:47.453]that are there whether it’s feed additives,
[01:16:49.508]implants and so forth across the spectrum
[01:16:52.712]to be competitive, yet many of our trading partners,
[01:16:56.230]or so-called partners
[01:16:58.215]rule us out if we want to use some of those technologies.
[01:17:01.558]Places like China say, “No, you can't use ractopamine
[01:17:04.937]“and some of these things.”
[01:17:06.818]For a long time, this has been going on.
[01:17:08.977]We’ve seen very little progress
[01:17:11.102]Are there any answers?
[01:17:15.426]Easy question (mumbles).
[01:17:17.476](laughter)
[01:17:19.043]Well, I think there are a couple of answers here.
[01:17:20.819]One is that we do wanna make sure
[01:17:22.665]that our products are being judged based on
[01:17:25.034]on sound science and we can work with other countries
[01:17:27.472]to try to get them to accept protocols for residue levels.
[01:17:31.756]We can make the case to them about why we feel
[01:17:34.403]it’s appropriate in our country
[01:17:36.318]and why we feel safe eating those products.
[01:17:38.791]But the other answer is that consumer’s interest
[01:17:42.135]in how their food is produced
[01:17:44.155]and what products were used to produce it
[01:17:46.001]is not going away and, you know,
[01:17:48.787]whether that's based on science or not
[01:17:51.190]it reflects certain preferences there.
[01:17:55.300]So again, I think the restrictions on ractopamine
[01:17:58.574]come about for different reasons
[01:18:00.803]depending on the country that’s there.
[01:18:02.719]I think China is hesitant to use ractopamine
[01:18:05.366]or allow it’s use,
[01:18:07.142]not because it is opposed to the technology
[01:18:10.555]but because it doesn't want to give foreign producers
[01:18:14.595]the economic benefit,
[01:18:17.625]the competitive edge of being able to use it
[01:18:20.307]when they don't really have a way to use it in their country
[01:18:22.989]and make sure that it’s used in a way that is safe,
[01:18:25.532]knowing that there are very similar products
[01:18:27.552]that can be used that cause very serious
[01:18:29.711]human health effects, like clenbuterol,
[01:18:31.766]which has been banned in this country
[01:18:33.333]for a very long time.
[01:18:34.935]And so, part of it has to do with China’s capacity
[01:18:37.234]for how it would use those products.
[01:18:40.404]But in other countries, there’s a strong consumer preference
[01:18:43.294]to know that those products are not used
[01:18:45.384]and so they don't want to allow them to enter,
[01:18:47.544]and again, if they don't allow them to enter
[01:18:49.912]then they don't give us a competitive edge
[01:18:51.897]that their own producers could not use
[01:18:54.684]with political acceptance in their country.
[01:18:57.470]So, you know, I think ractopamine is just one issue
[01:19:01.510]but there will be, I think, greater need for us
[01:19:05.167]to be able to distinguish and adopt different protocols
[01:19:08.371]to meet different markets.
[01:19:10.461]And that's not to say it's okay
[01:19:11.889]for countries the ban them entirely,
[01:19:13.944]but that really gaining market share
[01:19:16.278]into some of those countries might mean
[01:19:17.949]adapting our production technologies
[01:19:20.561]to what the consumers there really want.
[01:19:23.208]Now, we need to challenge the hypocrisy when it exists
[01:19:26.622]to, using the European Union as an example.
[01:19:30.732]They are signatories to the WTO rules
[01:19:35.851]in the sanitary phy-no-tary san agreement
[01:19:40.170]which say you gotta have a science-based system
[01:19:42.748]but they have a precautionary principle system,
[01:19:45.569]which is not science-based.
[01:19:47.519]Well, you know, you can’t have it both ways.
[01:19:50.062]Are you in the precautionary principle camp
[01:19:53.336]or are you in the science camp?
[01:19:55.251]And their answer is, “We’re in both.”
[01:19:57.341]Well, come on now.
[01:19:59.290](laughter)
[01:20:01.863]Right.
[01:20:03.471]Any closing comments, Darci or Clayton, as we wrap up?
[01:20:07.331]No, I think that’s great.
[01:20:09.142]Wonderful.
[01:20:10.326]It’s great, thank you.
[01:20:11.545]Yeah, let me add one.
[01:20:12.903](laughter)
[01:20:14.088]I knew he couldn’t do it.
[01:20:15.376]He couldn’t resist.
[01:20:16.944]No, this one’s for Darci’s benefit.
[01:20:19.347]And I said this at lunch this noon
[01:20:22.690]and I wanna tell all of you because you should hear it.
[01:20:25.651]Darci Vetter is well on her way
[01:20:29.029]to being the best agricultural negotiator
[01:20:32.373]in the history of the United States.
[01:20:34.532](applause)
[01:20:44.612]That was very kind. We certainly thank
[01:20:45.768]very much, Clayton.
[01:20:47.510]This is your second Heuermann Lecture.
[01:20:49.669]Some of you will remember
[01:20:51.757]three years ago, four years ago now, I believe,
[01:20:54.859]when we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Moral Act
[01:20:58.237]that established the Land Grant system
[01:21:00.362]and we had four of our former
[01:21:02.242]Secretaries of Agriculture from Nebraska
[01:21:05.203]that had a dialogue on the Lead Center stage that night
[01:21:08.964]and Clayton received this metal that night
[01:21:11.576]and he's gonna receive a second one tonight
[01:21:13.840]for being a Heuermann Lecturer.
[01:21:15.895]Thank you very much, Clayton.
[01:21:17.602](applause)
[01:21:22.373]And as Clayton said, well on her way to being
[01:21:25.264]the best ag negotiator in the history of the United States,
[01:21:28.434]Ambassador Darci Vetter.
[01:21:30.278]Thank you, Darci.
[01:21:31.533]Thank you very much, very kind.
[01:21:33.379](applause)
[01:21:37.245]So, that wraps up our lecture for tonight.
[01:21:39.335]I’d like to draw your attention
[01:21:40.937]to the final Heuermann Lecture of our series
[01:21:43.341]for this academic year.
[01:21:44.873]This is the first time that we've announced it
[01:21:47.137]here this evening, will be on April the 26th.
[01:21:51.525]It will be in conjunction with
[01:21:54.172]the Water For Food Global Water conference
[01:21:57.446]here at Innovation Campus
[01:22:00.093]and we are pleased that Dr. Sally Rockey
[01:22:03.158]who is the new executive director,
[01:22:05.875]relatively recently appointed executive director
[01:22:09.880]of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research,
[01:22:12.980]came out of the Farm Bill, the last Farm Bill,
[01:22:15.940]as a new entity in our government,
[01:22:18.344]working on public-private partnerships and research
[01:22:21.966]in this space and that will be Sally’s topic:
[01:22:24.683]public-private partnerships to advance food and ag security.
[01:22:29.384]So we look forward to seeing you then,
[01:22:31.161]April the 26th, joint with the Water For Food Conference.
[01:22:34.400]Good night.
[01:22:35.932](applause)
[01:22:38.301](upbeat music)

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A Dialogue on the History and Vision for the Future of International Trade for U.S. Agriculture

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