The Crush - September 2019 - 7

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On USMCA: 'Americans Cannot Wait Any Longer'
WITH CONGRESS BACK IN SESSION, THERE'S A MAJOR PUSH TO PASS THE TRADE DEAL
By Meredith Ritchie
USDA DEPUTY SECRETARY HIGHLIGHTS CALIFORNIA WINE
IN PRO-USMCA OP-ED IN FRESNO BEE
USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky recently penned an
op-ed touting the benefits of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade
Agreement (USMCA) and urging Congress to pass it. Following
is an excerpt that highlights wine and mentions CAWG member
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines:
California is known around the world for producing worldclass wines. Stretching from Napa and Sonoma to Paso Robles
and San Diego, California accounts for 81 percent of United
States wine production and ranks fourth in the world for
production. The more people get a taste of California wine,
the more they want to buy. Our job at the Department of
Agriculture is to expand markets to sell the bounty of our
agricultural products. Before USMCA, Canadian provinces,
such as British Columbia, had laws allowing discrimination
against U.S. wine by forcing it to be sold in an additional
enclosed area within retail stores, essentially hiding it from
their consumers. USMCA eliminates British Columbia's ability
to discriminate against our American wine, helping to put your
products on a level playing field with the rest of the world.
I recently visited J. Lohr winery in Paso Robles to see the
operation myself. J. Lohr farms more than 4,100 acres of vines
across the state and produces more than 1.5 million cases of
wine every year. With USMCA, J. Lohr will sell more wine
to Canadian consumers, boosting profits and supporting
California's wine industry.
USMCA benefits don't stop at wine. In fact, the agreement
helps all of California's diverse agricultural industry. It updates
decades-old language regarding technology trade, stabilizing
the ag-tech sector and advancing the use of technology in
agriculture. The agreement also improves the flow of trade
by strengthening science-based sanitary and phytosanitary
measures to protect human, animal, and plant health. The
United States is standing for fact-based trade policies, bringing
our trading relationships into the 21st century.
>READ THE OP-ED at www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/
article234472042.html.
PRESSURE FROM LAWMAKERS TO PASS USMCA
With Congress back in session, California and federal lawmakers
are putting on the pressure to get the deal approved soon.

The California State Senate on
Aug. 30 passed Senate Joint
Resolution 12, authored by
Senate Republican Leader
Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield)
with bipartisan support. SJR
12 recognizes the benefits
of improving existing trade
relations between the United
States, Mexico and Canada, and
urges Congress to approve the
USMCA.
Former Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp co-wrote an op-ed in
The Hill on Aug. 31. "It has been almost one year since the U.S.,
Canada and Mexico agreed to the USMCA, and it is past time for
Congress to approve this deal," she wrote. "The longer Congress
delays its approval, the less competitive American workers and
businesses will be in the global marketplace. As lawmakers return
to D.C., we encourage them to put passing the USMCA at the top
of their agenda. Americans cannot wait any longer." Heitkamp
is the co-chair of Trade Works for America, a bipartisan coalition
working to secure passage of the USMCA.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on
Aug. 26 published "Myths and Facts: USMCA" on his website in
an effort to generate momentum for the trade deal's passage upon
the return of Congress this month.
US AND JAPAN AGREE 'IN PRINCIPLE' ON MAJOR TRADE
AGREEMENT THAT BENEFITS WINE
The U.S. and Japan have struck a deal "in principle" that
President Trump calls a "tremendous deal for our farmers and
agricultural ranchers." Trump and Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe announced the end of August that they will likely
have a bilateral summit meeting during the United Nations
General Assembly in September, and set a goal of signing the
U.S.-Japan trade agreement.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said, "Japan is our
third-largest agricultural market. They import about $14 billion
worth of U.S. products, and this will open up markets to over $7
billion of those products. In the agriculture area, [the agreement]
will be a major benefit for beef, pork, wheat, dairy products, wine,
ethanol, and a variety of other products. It will lead to substantial
reductions in tariffs and non-tariff barriers across the board."
SEPTEMBER 2019 / 7

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SJR12 http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SJR12 https://www.thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/459541-approving-the-usmca-must-be-at-the-top-of-congresss-fall-check https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/myths-and-facts-usmca https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article234472042.html https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/op-ed/article234472042.html

The Crush - September 2019

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