Rep. Dave Reichert | International trade’s oversized local impact

Jun 22, 2016 Issues: Trade

If you travel just a stone’s throw away from downtown Wenatchee, the business-lined streets soon turn into farmland, with countless apple, cherry, and pear trees and grape vines spanning both sides of the road. One of those farms belongs to the family-run, Foreman Fruit Co.

Wenatchee resident Dale Foreman bought a plot of land and began growing cherries, apples, and pears over 30 years ago. When he and his wife Gail first started out, they expected to learn everything there was to know about apple varieties, prime planting and picking seasons, and soil quality — and they certainly did. But what they also learned is that the success of a small, family-owned farm in Eastern Washington directly depends not just on fluid trade between county or state lines but on trade with the international community.

Like many other agricultural producers in Washington state and around the country, Dale and his family export their produce to countries around the world. Last year alone, U.S. agriculture exports were worth more than $140 billion, making America the world’s leading agricultural exporter. With over $90 billion in annual exports and 40 percent of our jobs tied to trade, Washington State has especially benefited from trade with foreign markets. Our specialty crop growers in the Pacific Northwest like Dale and his family, export about a third of their crop of apples, pears, and cherries.

While our agriculture sector certainly benefits from the direct export of fresh fruit, other industries in Washington are using high-quality Washington crops for further processing and the creation of products for sale abroad, like Washington’s world famous breweries and wineries. Take for example, Schooner EXACT Brewing Co. in Seattle, which uses Washington-grown barley and hops for its internationally acclaimed craft beer. With ingenuity and a belief in their product, Heather McClung, co-owner of the company, tapped into a growing demand for craft beer in Tokyo, Japan. This has helped her company raise its national and international profile, sell more product, diversify its sales, and hire more people. For the beer industry more broadly, U.S. beer exports have grown by over 14 percent over the last five years.

While international trade has already presented many opportunities for the agricultural industry in Washington and around the country, there are still significant barriers preventing farmers from expanding, hiring more employees, and reaching their full potential. Last week, Dale and Heather joined me at a Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on the importance of expanding trade for our agricultural producers and how American agriculture has benefited from past trade agreements.

In his testimony, Dale told lawmakers about both the limitations and potential of exporting to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, Japan is already one of America’s top 10 customers for cherries, but without the current 9 percent tariff it places on U.S. cherry imports, American farmers would see their cherry business increase significantly. We have already seen this with South Korea. Prior to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), U.S. cherry growers faced a 24 percent tariff. KORUS eliminated this tariff. And in the year after the agreement entered into force, cherry exports to Korea nearly doubled and have continued to grow, making Korea our third largest market for cherries.

Comprehensive free trade agreements not only strengthen our agriculture industry, they also benefit the entire economy — both rural and urban. When a grower sells more apples, more workers are needed to pick those apples, additional drivers are needed to transport the apples from the orchard to the packing house, more workers are needed to package the apples, and the chain continues until they are placed on a shelf in a country on the other side of the Pacific.

With Washington fruit and vegetable exporters facing an average of over 50 percent tariffs when trying to sell abroad, the Wenatchee Valley, Cashmere, Chelan and other farming communities in our region have much to gain from lower tariffs. Along with knocking down tariffs, trade agreements help ensure that our growers don’t face other barriers, like regulations based on protectionism rather than science, which block access to foreign markets. Eliminating all of these barriers through trade agreements is essential for American agricultural producers to sell to the world’s expanding markets. And making sure that our trade agreements have solid enforcement tools so that trading partners will implement their obligations is essential.

But a trade agreement is not good just because it is a trade agreement. As a state that relies heavily on exports, Washington understands the difference between a high-standard agreement and one that falls short of expectations. That is why, as chairman of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, I will continue to advocate for comprehensive, fully enforceable trade agreements that tear down barriers for U.S. agricultural producers.

Rep. Dave Reichert represents Washington’s 8th Congressional District and is the first member from Washington to chair the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade.