HOUSE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS
TRADE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING
For questions on the note below, please contact the Delta Strategy Group team.
On March 17, the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade held a hearing entitled, “Advancing America’s Interests at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 14th Ministerial Conference.” The witnesses in the hearing were:
- Kelly Ann Shaw, Partner, Akin, Former Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs
- Stephen Ezell, VP of Global Innovation Policy, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Peter Bachmann, President and CEO, USA Rice Federation
- Bruce Hirsh, Founder, Tailwind Global Strategies LLC
Below are several high-level key takeaways of the hearing prepared by Delta Strategy Group,
Key Takeaways
- Committee Chairman Smith (R-MO) highlighted the Trump administration’s concrete success in opening foreign markets for American agricultural products through bilateral leverage, citing the elimination of tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports to Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia; Japan’s commitment to purchase $8 billion in U.S. agricultural products; and the dismantling of Australia’s non-tariff barriers against U.S. beef. Shaw further stated that beyond direct market access gains, many bilateral and framework agreements have also produced commitments from foreign governments to pursue reforms in Geneva, representing an indirect but meaningful channel through which bilateral leverage is advancing the broader cause of WTO reform.
- Multiple members across the aisle, along with the witnesses, acknowledged the necessity of reform at the WTO.
- Representative Fischbach (R-MN) outlined that American farmers and ranchers continue to face significant tariff and non-tariff barriers in international markets while being forced to compete against foreign producers benefiting from heavy government subsidies. Bachmann noted that as the U.S. heads into the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC-14), the most realistic and productive path forward is to hold the line against backsliding and establish a concrete work plan for meaningful reform, rather than expecting significant progress on agricultural negotiations in the near term. Bachmann repeatedly noted that the use of Section 232 and Section 301 tariff policies remains an effective way to help U.S. farmers and ranchers who are being hurt by unfair trade practices worldwide. He added that multiple nations must come together to address the subsidies on rice, wheat, and corn commodities. Shaw highlighted that given the structural limitations of the WTO, where all 166 member countries hold veto power, bilateral and plurilateral tools such as Section 232 and Section 301 investigations have proven to be effective instruments available to extract real trade commitments from foreign partners over the past decade.
- Discussions covered the limitations of the WTO’s multilateral process, with Shaw outlining that plurilateral negotiations outside the WTO with like-minded partners represent a productive path forward. She highlighted examples, including critical minerals agreements and cooperative efforts to address supply chain challenges and China’s market behavior. Bachmann emphasized the strategic use of tariffs to level the playing field for U.S. agriculture.
- Representative Miller (R-OH) highlighted that U.S. farmers face a compounding set of disadvantages in global markets, and Bachmann stated that the abuse of public stockholding provisions by countries like India directly undermines the competitiveness of U.S. agricultural products in markets around the world. Bachmann further noted that as countries like Brazil continue to backfill markets vacated by the U.S., the most effective tool available to level the playing field remains the strategic use of U.S. tariffs as leverage to bring trading partners to the table, whether through the WTO or through bilateral agreements, in pursuit of rules-based and fair trade outcomes for American farmers.
- Bachmann highlighted that while the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement has served as an effective tool for protecting U.S. agricultural interests in bilateral negotiations, American farmers continue to face significant challenges competing in global markets against foreign producers benefiting from trade-distorting practices. Bachmann noted that the abuse of public stockholding provisions, particularly by India and China, allows foreign governments to purchase large quantities of agricultural commodities and sell them to exporters at discounted prices, flooding both the U.S. and world markets and undermining the ability of American farmers and ranchers to compete.
- Representative Murphy (R-NC) highlighted the contradiction of China continuing to classify itself as a developing country at the WTO and benefiting from the special and differential treatment that designation affords. Shaw noted that while China’s announcement that it will no longer avail itself of special and differential treatment is a positive step, its continued use of the developing country label undermines the credibility of the WTO as an institution and underscores the urgent need for objective classification standards. Bachmann stated that China’s bad-faith participation in the global agricultural trading system, including subsidization practices on corn, rice, and wheat for which the U.S has already prevailed in WTO dispute settlement yet seen no enforcement, continues to distort global agricultural markets and disadvantage American farmers. He added that the U.S. must invest in its own research and maintain an assertive presence at the WTO to ensure China does not fill the leadership vacuum, framing the effort as both a national security and national economic imperative that must be acted upon.
- Multiple Democratic members raised concerns over the Trump Administration’s use of tariffs and the repercussions of those trade practices.
- Representative Panetta (D-CA) outlined that as the U.S. risks ceding its leadership role in the global trading system, major partners like the EU are rapidly advancing regional trade agreements that could place American agricultural exporters at a preferential disadvantage and shift global regulatory standards away from those the U.S. has championed.
- Ranking Member Sanchez (D-CA) raised the importance of transparency at the WTO. Hirsch noted that notifications are critical for committees and traders to understand WTO policies. He further added that the U.S. has at times been counter-notified and highlighted India and China as being historically non-compliant. Ranking member Sanchez also questioned what would happen should the U.S. leave the WTO, and Hirsch stated that U.S. interests would no longer be represented.