Sugar Producers Applaud Bipartisan Congressional Letter on Unfair Trade Practices as Losses Mount

America's sugarbeet and sugarcane producers applaud Senators John Hoeven (R-ND) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Representatives Julie Fedorchak (R-ND-AL) and Troy Carter (D-LA-2) for leading a bipartisan, bicameral letter with more than 110 members of Congress urging the U.S. Trade Representative to take immediate action against the flood of over-quota foreign sugar devastating the livelihoods of family farmers and factory workers.

U.S. sugar policy is designed to defend U.S. farmers and workers from excess over-quota imports and keep the domestic sugar market in balance. But the surge of over-quota sugar imports has undermined the longstanding sugar policy enacted by Congress.

In their letter, the members of Congress ask the administration to use Section 301 authorities to investigate "unfair trading practices that disadvantage our domestic sugar industry and take decisive action as appropriate." They note that these practices have severely injured an essential domestic industry, with total U.S. sugar industry losses estimated to exceed $3 billion over the past two years.

"Sugarbeet farmers have just finished planting this year's crop knowing the gut-wrenching reality is that we might lose hundreds of dollars on each acre as over-quota sugar continues to pour into the U.S. If we want to keep these farms in America, we need the administration to take immediate action. We deeply appreciate these members of Congress for standing up in defense of American sugar production," said Clint Hagen, a fifth-generation sugarbeet farmer from Ubly, Michigan, and President of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association.

"Sugar is a critical ingredient in our food supply. We must keep this essential industry in the United States. We cannot outsource our farms, factory jobs, and food production to foreign nations," said Stephen Simoneaux, a fifth-generation sugarcane farmer from Plattenville, Louisiana.

The American sugar industry supports family farms and American manufacturing positions across the country, accounting for more than 151,000 jobs throughout the sugar supply chain.

"The losses we are experiencing are staggering and unsustainable. Our farms and factories won't be able to hold on much longer if the U.S. cannot control the artificially and destructively cheap foreign sugar imports that are undercutting American-made sugar," said Brent Baldwin, a fourth-generation sugarbeet farmer from St. Thomas, North Dakota.

You can read the full text of the letter here.