U.S. Sugar Program Snags Pacific Trade Talks

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By Alan Bjerga and Marvin G. Perez, Bloomberg News Sep 01, 2015

A sweet deal for American sugar farmers is compounding delays in a proposed trade agreement affecting 40 percent of the world's economy.

The commodity has become a sticky subject in talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, potentially the biggest trade deal in history and a key goal of President Barack Obama's administration. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would link a dozen countries and, its proponents say, make it easier for U.S. companies to sell goods around the world.

But the trade deal may also weaken protections for the sugar industry dating back to the Great Depression should negotiators heed the calls of Australia and other nations for the U.S. to loosen a quota system that protects domestic suppliers while making the product more expensive for consumers. As they have for decades, sugar lobbyists are fighting to keep it that way by using their clout with lawmakers.

In Washington, that means one thing: money. Sugar accounts for a small fraction of U.S. farm output, but the industry contributes more to congressional campaign coffers than any other commodity producer. Between 2007 and 2014, growers donated $18.5 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

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