Washington-- U.S. Senator Evan Bayh joined 57 of his Senate colleagues in a letter late Friday calling on the Bush administration to defend U.S. access to foreign agriculture markets during World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. The senators want to draw particular attention to this issue as this summer's deadline for an agreement approaches.

"Unfortunately, many of our trading partners continue to call for greater cuts in U.S. farm programs, even as they reject any movement toward real improvements in market access," Bayh and the other senators wrote in the letter. "These countries have refused to make significant tariff reductions, and they insist on exceptions for sensitive and special products that will render meaningless the modest tariff reductions they have proposed."

The senators urged the administration to refrain from signing an agreement unless foreign countries provide greater access to their markets by significantly reducing tariffs and quotas on American farm products. In October, the administration put forward a WTO proposal that included deep cuts in domestic farm programs, but made them contingent on foreign countries' agreement to reduce tariffs and provide greater access to their markets.

The ability to sell their products abroad has a serious impact on U.S. farmers. Currently, one in three U.S. farm acres is planted for export, and 25 percent of gross farm income comes directly from exports. The current round of WTO trade negotiations was launched in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, with a focus on improving market access, reducing and eventually eliminating all forms of export subsidies and reducing domestic farm supports.

"At a time when America's farmers already are struggling to get by, it is important that foreign governments not raise unfair barriers to our products," Bayh said. "By agreeing to cuts in domestic support programs without also increasing market access for U.S. agriculture exports, the Bush administration would undermine the efforts of these hardworking men and women."

American farmers are among the most efficient in the world, but they are frequently denied access to overseas consumers. To address this problem, Bayh has supported opening new markets for U.S. agriculture by strengthening trade relations with foreign countries. He has also introduced legislation to strengthen U.S. trade laws so that the United States can better defend itself against challenges brought against it by foreign countries in the World Trade Organization.

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