News Releases for November 2003
November 14, 2003
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Hoeven Pushes To Protect North Dakota Sugar Beet Farmers
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today said he is continuing to push the Bush Administration and U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert Zoellick to retain a compensatory tariff designed to protect domestic sugar producers against a flood of subsidized sugar imports. Zoellick is currently negotiating the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which could eliminate loan and tariff programs that level the playing field for U.S. producers.
The Governor followed up today on an August letter to President Bush with phone calls to senior White House officials and the Office of the U.S. Trade Ambassador. In addition, Hoeven is arranging to meet personally with senior White House officials in the near future.
“Sugar production, and agriculture in general, are vital to North Dakota’s economic health,” Hoeven said. “Nearly 2,000 family farmers grow sugar beets on almost a quarter of a million acres in North Dakota.”
Hoeven wrote to President Bush in August requesting that the White House direct Zoellick to take sugar and sweeteners out of the CAFTA negotiations.
“On behalf of North Dakota’s sugar and sweetener producers, I urge you and Ambassador Zoellick to immediately reserve sugar and sweetener solely for the Doha Round negotiations of the WTO,” Hoeven said.
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