Agricultural Free and Fair Trade Act of 1983

Summary

Agricultural Free and Fair Trade Act of 1983 - Title I: - Demand Maintenance - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to determine the existence of an excess carryover condition for any commodity. Defines an excess carryover condition as existing when the estimated total supply of a commodity exceeds by a specified percentage the amount of such commodity which will be utilized domestically and for export within a marketing year. Provides that an excess carryover condition exists only where the Secretary has determined that all or part of such condition has resulted from actions of a foreign country. Directs the Secretary to implement a program to offset the effect of actions taken by foreign countries which adversely affect domestic agricultural exports or which cause or make worse an excess carryover condition. Directs the Secretary to take precautions to safeguard usual U.S. marketings and to avoid displacing cash sales of U.S. agricultural commodities. Requires the Commodity Credit Corporation to make Corporation stocks available to domestic exporters, domestic processors or foreign importers where an excess carryover condition is found to exist. Provides that such stocks be made available in sufficient quantities to eliminate such condition. Authorizes the availability of such stocks for: (1) export sale for dollars; (2) export sale for foreign currency; and (3) donation for humanitarian purposes. Requires the Secretary, under certain circumstances, to make purchases of excess commodities available to producers in sufficient quantity in order to enable the Corporation to make such commodities available for export so as to eliminate a carryover condition. Directs the Corporation to reduce interest rates on export credits where an excess carryover condition is found to exist or the Secretary determines such interest rates are excessive and detrimental. Directs the Secretary to offset any excess carryover condition caused or made worse by the appreciation of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies. Requires the Secretary to implement a program to offset the effect of a foreign country's export subsidies which causes or makes worse an excess carryover condition or which adversely affects the U.S. farm sector. Provides for a six month delay in implementing such program. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: - Demand Enhancement - Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to request the Secretary, when an excess carryover condition exists, to emphasize greater funding levels for both: (1) the market development and cooperator programs; and (2) the export market development program for value added farm products and processed foods. Requires the Secretary to increase the number of U.S. Agricultural Trade Offices to the level necessary to accommodate the increased market development efforts described in this Act. Makes October 1, 1983, the effective date of this title.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 26 January 1983

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.