Text as Prepared for Delivery
Release No. 0304.99
President Clinton's announcement that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has amended regulations to permit commercial sales of agricultural
products on a case-by-case basis to Iran, Libya, and Sudan is a significant
change in U.S. unilateral economic sanctions policy, and it has important
implications for American agriculture.
This policy supports two basic principles: a humanitarian principle
that basics, such as food and medicine, should not be used as a tool of
foreign policy; and an economic principle that our sanctions policy should not
impose undue burdens on our farmers and ranchers.
Farmers in this country know that we are committed to the expansion of
U.S. agricultural export opportunities and that we will not restrict exports
except in the most compelling circumstances. American agricultural export
shares in sanctioned markets are frequently captured by our global
competitors. While this new policy does not mean automatic approval of
agricultural sales, it places the presumption on the side of approval and
gives U.S. producers and exporters an opportunity to compete in more markets.
With farm prices still low and global demand still soft, this action
could not have come at a better time. Our farmers are hurting, and they
deserve every opportunity to reach out to as many potential consumers as
possible around the world. American farmers produce the very best food that
the world has to offer, and we cannot afford to handicap them by ceding
potentially lucrative markets to our global competitors.
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