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Wheat industry hopes Lighthizer will help level playing field
Photo courtesy Kansas Wheat
U.S. wheat industry officials are hopeful that newly-confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will put more pressure on U.S. trading partners to meet their WTO obligations.
U.S. Wheat Associates director of policy Ben Conner says China is a good example.
“China is required to allow almost 10 million tons of wheat to enter their market every year. They’re currently allowing about two million tons,” Conner says. “Our total exports are less than 30 million tons. If we had a new source of demand in that region, at that level, that could be a really big impact for wheat farmers.”
The U.S. has a WTO dispute case pending against China over what USW calls “China’s excessive domestic wheat subsidies that violate its WTO membership agreement”.
AUDIO: Ben Conner, interviewed by Brownfield’s Julie Harker
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