Excerpt: Before you bite into that next Valentine’s Day morsel, you may want to contemplate the complex sugar subsidies behind it — and their far-reaching impact on the U.S. economy. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would unwind price supports for domestic sugar producers. Authors of the bill argue they say are unnecessary, unfair and boost sugar prices at the expense of consumers and jobs. But sugar producers say those same subsidies keep prices in check and the industry competitive. It’s an almost perennial battle that can affect jobs and trade, depending on whom you ask. … Additionally, the subsidies can hinder trade negotiations, opponents of the program say. The U.S. insistence that sugar be exempted from a free-trade agreement with Australia paved the way for South Korea to make a similar demand of the U.S. with regard to rice, they argue. “This stuff grows and escalates. If you let one do it, then the list is going to get very long because everybody wants protection,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which promotes free trade. The prospects of the new effort aren’t certain. A similar measure to end the sugar subsidies came within four votes of passing the Senate last summer, which offers some hope for that chamber, Reinsch said. “I would be moderately optimistic about the Senate,” he said. “I think the House is still going to be a heavy lift.”
 http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/sugar-wars-advance-on-valentine-s-day-20130214

“” February 13, 2013Excerpt: President Obama’s announcement in his State of the Union address Tuesday night that the United States and European Union will begin negotiating creation of the largest free-trade area in history may have visions of cheaper imports from the other side of the Atlantic dancing in consumers’ heads.… “The transatlantic relationship is so intertwined with the global economy that any amount of streamlining of standards and regulatory convergence is going to increase economic growth globally,” says Charles Dittrich, vice president for regional foreign trade initiatives at the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) in Washington. “Such a high level of cooperation and convergence between the US and the EU has the potential to serve as a basis for a broader adoption of common trade rules and standards with other countries.”… Food-safety issues and some aspects of intellectual property rights may turn out to be the toughest sticking points in the coming negotiations, says Mr. Dittrich of the NFTC. Deciding whether or not some potential deal breakers will even be part of the talks will be “the next step,” he adds, since negotiators from the two sides will be deciding in the coming weeks the scope of the talks and just how ambitious an agreement to try to reach.

February 13, 2013Excerpt: Mr Obama’s decision to launch the negotiations – in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night – comes less than a week after leaders of the EU’s 27 member states approved the talks. … The main focus of a trade agreement between the US and EU would be to harmonise standards and tackle the non-tariff barriers that have frequently caused disputes across the Atlantic.”We both face a common competitive challenge and it’s China,” says Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a US lobbying group that promotes trade liberalisation.”There’s a realisation that one way to combat that market challenge – which is not just showing up in exports and imports but also standards – is if we can reach agreement on our own [joint] standards. That would make a huge difference,” Mr Reinsch added.