US Congressmen want law against sugar subsidies, say countries like India give billions of dollars to support its inefficient sector

“The survival of American sugar producers is threatened by the unfair practices and dumping of cheap sugar subsidised by foreign countries,” Congresswoman Cammack alleged.

Foreign countries including India, Brazil, Thailand, Russia, Mexico, as well as the European Union, have subsidised artificially cheap sugar on the global market at the expense of the American sugar industry, she said.

“Free trade must also be fair trade, and we should not abandon our own production capabilities in favour of cheap imports that destroy our domestic markets and American producers’ livelihoods. Food security is national security,” she said.

The proposed resolution said a sound and fair sugar policy should be there that protects domestic producers against foreign abuses.

Brazil provides direct and indirect subsidies of at least $ 2.5 billion/year and India at least $ 1.7 billion/year to support its inefficient sugar industry; Thailand has more than tripled its sugar exports since 2004 with $ 1.3 billion/year in subsidies and government price-fixing, said the two lawmakers.

“American sugar farmers are the best in the world, but they need a fair playing field to compete in the global marketplace. Unfortunately, other countries like Brazil, Thailand and India have poor labour standards, unfair sugar subsidies and regularly dump their surplus sugar on the world markets, posing a threat to American family farms,” said Congressman Kildee. “That’s why we need an American sugar programme that supports our farmers,” he said.

(Inputs from PTI)