SC Agribusiness Joins Ad Campaign Against Canadian Ban on American Agricultural Products
August 4, 2009
Ads in Washington call on Congress and Obama Administration to Stand up for American Jobs
COLUMBIA, SC – August 4, 2009 – The Palmetto Agribusiness Council announced today that it is joining numerous other agriculture organizations in an advertising campaign calling upon Congress and the Obama Administration to oppose legislation moving through the Canadian Parliament that would ban American blend cigarettes. The bill, C-32, would impose undue hardships on American farmers, and could lead to other countries following Canada’s protectionist lead, a development that could destroy an entire segment of the American tobacco growing community and likely other commodities in the future.
C-32 has passed the House of Commons and will likely be considered by the Senate when the Canadian Parliament returns from its summer recess in September. The bill, which is intended to prohibit candy-flavored cigarillos, has morphed into an overreaching bill that would ban the entire category of American blend cigarettes, leading to loss of thousands of jobs and a worsening of trade relations between the United States and Canada.
Agribusiness organizations throughout the U.S. view this precedent as a direct threat to trade agreements governing the free trade of American agricultural products. Some even worry that the legislation may not be just about tobacco, but all U.S. agribusiness products that the Canadian Parliament chooses to restrict.
The advertising campaign has already featured two print advertisements in Roll Call, The Hill and Politico—three newspapers distributed throughout Washington and are widely read by Members of Congress and policymakers inside the Obama Administration. The advertisements, which are entitled, “Barn” and “Farm Couple,” are attached with this press release.
“We agree with the Canadian Parliament that candy-flavored cigarillos that are clearly targeted to minors should be banned. There is no place for these products in a responsible tobacco market,” said Cathy Novinger, Palmetto Agribusiness Council’s Executive Director. “But C-32 goes way too far. This discriminatory bill targets American blend cigarettes and American growers of burley tobacco, while not banning the more popular Canadian tobacco. If this legislation is enacted, people working in the American tobacco industry will needlessly lose their jobs and support for continued free trade between the United States and Canada will be diminished.”
“We want our elected officials in Washington to send a loud and clear message to their counterparts in Canada that C-32 must be fixed before it is enacted,” said Edgar Woods, President of the Palmetto Agribusiness Council, and also an independent agribusiness industry leader in South Carolina. “We would hope the Canadian Parliament would stop and think before they destroy American jobs and increase trade tensions. There is too much at stake for Parliament to rush forward with this misguided, job-destroying piece of legislation, “said Edgar.
Already, several Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have voiced their concerns to the Canadian government about the negative impact C-32 would have on American jobs and trade relations with the United States. Throughout the Southeast agribusiness friendly Congressmen are taking action to encourage the Canadian Parliament to stop this potentially damaging trade war on US agribusiness products.
In addition, leading business organizations in Canada and the United States such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the United States Chamber of Commerce have written in opposition to C-32 as it is currently drafted. Copies of these letters and those sent by the above lawmakers are available upon request.
The following organizations are participating in the advertising campaign to educate American and Canadian policymakers about the negative impact C-32 will have on jobs and trade relations between the United States and Canada:
Burley Stabilization Corporation, Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association, Council for Burley Tobacco Inc., Fair Products Inc., International Tobacco Growers Association, Kentucky Farm Bureau, North Carolina Agribusiness Council, North Carolina Farm Bureau, North Carolina Growers Association, Palmetto Agribusiness Council, Philip Morris International Inc., Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina and the Virginia Farm Bureau.
