A coalition of 30 food and agriculture stakeholders urged congressional support for U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The groups emphasized that the U.S. agricultural community supports WTO reform, not WTO withdrawal.

Please contact Becky Rasdall ([email protected]) or Kristy Goodfellow ([email protected]) with any questions.

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April 11, 2025

Dear Chairs Smith and Crapo and Ranking Members Neal and Wyden:

We are writing to urge your support for U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).  The WTO contributes significantly to a strong, safe, and prosperous America.

America’s food and agriculture community recognizes and agrees with certain concerns related to the functionality and balance of the WTO, particularly as they relate to non-market economies, such as China. However, the WTO has created meaningful economic and political stability that cannot be underestimated. Since the United States adopted major WTO agreements in 1994, for example, U.S. agricultural exports have grown from $62 billion to nearly $176 billion in 2024, as export subsidies were eliminated, trade distorting subsidies and tariffs reduced, tariff-rate quotas established for some commodities, border procedures became more efficient, and non-tariff barriers subject to new rules minimized disguised protectionism. U.S. agricultural exports make up approximately 20% of U.S. farm income, and substantially more for certain products. This growth would not have been possible without the rules-based framework created by the WTO to support market-based international trade, which has become the basis for all U.S. free trade agreements.

Notwithstanding the concerns we share with the WTO, a more pressing risk is the enhanced  leadership role China is seeking  on the international stage, and specifically  within the WTO.  In recent years, China has stepped up as a leader in the WTO by filing an increasing number of disputes, coalescing developing countries’ positions related to e-commerce, and flaunting plurilateral negotiations on investment that could cement China’s leadership in both the organization and the Eastern Hemisphere.  Without a strong U.S. counter to China’s actions within the WTO, the organization and its rules risk being reduced to a vehicle for China’s continued economic and political growth internationally.

To continue feeding the world and growing food and agricultural products, the United States must step up and lead at the WTO.  Without the WTO, our country will lose critical market access for American food and agricultural exports, but more importantly, we will lose the opportunity to build rules that allow us to feed the world.  Challenges with the WTO’s functionality need not result in a closing of markets to U.S. food and agriculture goods, nor a crisis with the United States’ loss as a global leader within the WTO.  Rather, we should take this opportunity to refocus and  leverage the WTO in support of a market based global economy that makes America strong, safe and prosperous.

We therefore strongly urge you to maintain and strengthen the United States’ role in the WTO and adamantly oppose U.S. withdrawal from the WTO.  Thank you for your consideration of this request as its potential impact  to American food and agriculture is significant.

Sincerely,