Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 19, 1999
Agricultural Trade Act of 1999 - Expresses the sense of the Congress that the principal agricultural trade negotiating objectives of the United States for future multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), shall be to achieve, on an expedited basis and to the maximum extent feasible, more open and fair conditions for trade in agricultural commodities by: (1) developing, strengthening, and clarifying rules for agricultural trade, including disciplines on restrictive or trade-distorting import and export practices; (2) increasing U.S. agricultural exports by eliminating barriers to trade (including transparent and nontransparent barriers) and other constraints to fair and more open markets access in foreign markets, such as export subsidies, quotas, and other non-tariff import barriers; (3) developing, strengthening, and clarifying rules that address practices that unfairly limit U.S. market access opportunities or distort agricultural markets to the detriment of the United States; (4) ensuring that there are reliable suppliers of agricultural commodities international commerce by encouraging countries to treat foreign buyers no less favorably than domestic buyers of the commodity involved; and (5) eliminating barriers for meeting the food needs of the world through the use of biotechnology by ensuring access to U.S. commodities derived from biotechnology that is scientifically defensible, opposing the establishment of protectionist trade measures disguised as health standards, and protesting continual delays by other countries in their approval processes which constitute non-tariff trade barriers. (Sec. 4) Directs the President to review all unilateral economic sanctions imposed against foreign countries for reasons of foreign policy or national security.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 20, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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