Editorial

Foreign markets are big customers for American agriculture. According to USDA, farm product exports in 2009 were valued at $96 billion and accounted for 10 percent of all exported goods.

So we were happy last month to hear President Barack Obama promise to double U.S. exports over the next five years. Any increase in farm exports would put much needed money into the pockets of Western farmers and ranchers. It would also mean jobs in the processing and transportation industries.

We are troubled, however, that the president's actions to date do not seem to correspond to his ambitious agenda.

In the early days of his presidency, the Obama administration shut down a pilot program designed to allow Mexican trucks to haul goods on U.S. highways. The program was meant to fulfill long-neglected terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement. But those provisions of the deal rankled the Teamsters union. It says Mexican trucks are unsafe, even though the pilot program was meant to address that issue. We suspect they are more concerned with competing with lower-cost, non-union haulers from south of the border.

Cancellation of the program prompted the Mexican government to slap tariffs on a host of U.S. products, including fresh fruits and vegetables, processed food products, nursery items and Christmas trees. Those are all products grown by producers in the West, and they have suffered as a result.

Last month ConAgra shut down its french fry plant in Prosser, Wash. It said the 20 percent tariff Mexico slapped on frozen fries has greatly reduced demand for the plant's output. The Washington Potato Commission said the tariff has cost the potato industry $15 million in sales. California grape shippers say they've lost 70 percent of their Mexican business in the 12 months since the tariffs have been in place. Growers of impacted goods across the West say they have either lost sales entirely or have been forced to discount their price to account for the tariff.

Although the administration promised swift action to rectify the impasse, 13 months have passed without any tangible results or any indication of what that action might be. Growers and processors in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho are literally paying the freight to keep the Teamsters happy.

Other deals that were in the works have also languished since Obama took office, largely at the behest of various unions and other liberal special interests that make up the core of his support.

President Obama inherited a free trade deal worked out between the Bush administration and South Korea. That could be a boon for U.S. farmers and ranchers. Although he has expressed support for increasing trade with South Korea, he has taken no action. Negotiations were also well underway with Colombia and Panama, but no pact has been finalized.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told the Dow Jones Newswire this week that the deals are still in the works, and that talks are progressing. He didn't, however, offer up a timetable.

Toward his goal, the president has announced his intentions to reduce export rules that restrict the outflow of U.S. goods and to increase funding for promotion efforts abroad. Both are laudable efforts.

However, the only way to substantially increase exports is to reduce real barriers to U.S. products in foreign markets. That means negotiating fair trade deals, and living up to the pacts already signed. We trust the president will soon put forth tangible efforts to meet his goal.