Ambassador, you know, and to the folks out there that may have not seen your work, I know how many times you have had to appear before the Ways and Means Committee on these particular issues and to answer some very tough questions, and you have been very faithful in making sure that all of our voices are heard. So we are very pleased that you are here. It will bring a perspective, I think for you as we enter into these agreements and before the committee as we're trying to write some of these bills -- that you'll have a perspective of Florida agriculture, so we're very pleased that you are here.

Dr. Siddiqui, we are equally as pleased that you are here. This is not the first time that you have travelled to Florida. I am just pleased that finally somebody at USDA is recognizing that we are a different agricultural community than we are in the western part of the United States, and I did notice who was getting the most exports out there from your slides -- so it is very pleasing that you are here to understand our issues, as well. We appreciate that.

Mr. Baas, I have travelled and had the opportunity to work with the State departments and you are exactly right. You have given us the leadership as far as Americans in these different countries. Certainly, your Department has been the one who has allowed us to set up the meetings with those people in those countries and producers, as well as the knowledge that is presented by the folks over there on these issues both so that we understand what we're dealing with, as well as what to expect or they might expect from us.

Commissioner, you and I are just long-time friends. You've been so good for Florida agriculture and what you have done in the leadership in some very difficult times as we've entered into some of these agreements. This has not been an easy time for Florida agriculture, and your leadership has certainly been appreciated from all corners of Florida agriculture. So we're glad you're still the Commissioner and working hard for everybody.

I do want to start though by saying that I do know that as we go into November, and I hope and I know that the Ways and Means Committee will be there -- Mr. Crane has already talked about making sure that that delegation is going there. But I'd like to start off by saying, you know, that we do appreciate the singular attention that the trade representative and the Secretary of Agriculture afforded Florida agriculture by giving us our own Listening Session.

We hope that today's session is productive in a couple of ways. One, that it establishes a meaningful relationship between Florida agriculture and its consumers and our negotiators, and secondly that it provides you, as our negotiators, with the information you need to increase Florida agriculture's market share both at home and abroad.

For all of the market access that GATT and NAFTA afforded some commodities and industries, many sectors of Florida agriculture suffered what we believe is irreparable harm. The most well-known of these sectors, as you've mentioned, is the Florida tomato industry which grapples constantly with dumping from Mexico. However, the impact on our winter vegetables that Florida grows has been equally devastating. So we look to opportunities in Seattle. My message will be very simple at this time and this is it. Florida agriculture must get at least as much as it gives.

The specialty crops which Florida produces require and deserve a non-cookie cutter approach at the WTO. Tariff reduction should be taken not by formula but by requested offer. Exemptions from tariff reductions for highly import-sensitive products should be secured. Additionally, a price-based safeguard mechanism rather than the agricultural safeguard contained in the Uruguay Round must be negotiated in order for perishable import-sensitive crops to survive.

Until Section 201/202 takes seasonal and perishable ag products into account, we believe Florida's industry will remain dangerously vulnerable to dumping economies which enjoy the advantage of lower laborers, child labor, and a broader array of chemical tools for those trading partners who highly subsidize, as also recognized by what slides that were just shown. We do have a lot of other friends out there that are subsidizing their exports or producing their commodities as state enterprises, and we would match but not exceed their efforts to reduce market distortions.

By the end of this month I will also be introducing two pieces of legislation that we've been working on aimed at addressing a few of the issues you will hear about today. The first will establish a reciprocal country of origin labelling for the fresh fruit and vegetable imports of our trading partners requiring such labelling of U.S. exports. We think that is extremely important.

Secondly, during the briefings you have provided members of the Ways and Means Committee we have frequently discussed the small and not so small SPS barriers to trade. While 10 and 20 million may seem insignificant in comparison to say the cases of steel or hormone treated beef, it is big money to many of our producers and clearly the United States can not afford to take each and every SPS case to the WTO. I intend to introduce a mechanism to allow our government to become effective in addressing bogus SPS barriers to trade and foreign markets.

In closing, this has already been mentioned but I think it needs to be recognized again. We do want to congratulate our negotiators for the market access commitments they recently received from China for citrus. I plan to review closely today presentations so that I too can learn about other legislative tools that could be brought to bear on behalf of our agriculture community. Again, we thank you so much for doing this. Commissioner, we thank you for putting this all together. Thank you very much.

(Applause.)