PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) Clarence Clarke yesterday blasted America’s recent farm bill, which will steer billions of dollars in subsidies to US farmers, as “a complete reversal” of its commitment to free trade.

In addition, Clarke charged that overzealous US inspectors have unfairly detained Jamaican agricultural goods, causing exporters to lose money and market share. Their perishable goods rotted on the port before entry was finally granted, he said, referring to complaints the JMA had received.

Speaking during a monthly board meeting at the manufacturing group’s downtown Kingston office, Clarke said the JMA “supports liberalised trade as the foundation of economic expansion”. However, he drew a distinction between “free trade and undisciplined trade”.

Clarke’s statement was just the latest in a series of attacks by Jamaican and Caribbean officials on the US farm bill under which the administration of George W Bush committed nearly $200 billion in subsidies to American farmers over the next decade — a move which critics say run counter to undertakings at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the world’s richest nations to slash subsidies.

The Americans have also faced international criticisms over another controversial decision to raise tariffs on imported steel in an effort to protect domestic producers.

Critics have stressed that such actions distort trade, but for Clarke not only was the action inconsistent with free trade but the “negative impact on Jamaica will be real”.

“The US farm bill represents a complete reversal of this commitment,” to free-trade, he said. “It also sends an unfortunate signal to those countries seeking to establish liberalised economies,” he added.

US ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb, has, in the past, defended the farm bill, saying it’s consistent with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

But Clarke said the bill will create market “distortions” that will affect Jamaica.

“While we do not produce grain, a subsidy by the US … on grain will affect all grain-fed animals and there will be an impact on the price of the products of these animals and of products using grain as an input,” he said. “Similarly, US exports of grain will result in eventual trade distortions in varying degrees along the supply chain.”

Adding that the US justified the farm bill by arguing that Europeans and Japanese subsidised production, Clarke said: “This is cold comfort to a small economy such as ours.”

Still, Clarke advised that Jamaica respond in a “measured and calculated” way to such measures, and not be “tempted to blindly seek to do likewise for the sake of doing so”.

“Trade is a critical factor in business, and we must learn to use the rules to our own advantage,” he said. One feature of globalisation, he said, will be disagreements among trading partners.

The JMA is reviewing the farm bill’s impact on specific products, he added.

Echoing complaints of some Jamaican agricultural exporters, Clarke said some have seen their agricultural goods — oranges and pumpkins, for instance — rot on the docks because of “US non-tariff barriers sometimes disguised as ‘scientific’ based health concerns”.

“As a rule, non-tariff measures often include (unscientific) standards, customs procedures, government monopolies and lack of transparency in regulations,” he said.

Small economies like Jamaica’s, he said, can find such measures “particularly daunting”.

“We have had containers of oranges stopped at a US port because US inspectors determined they were infected with ‘back spot’. Weeks later analysis found, not un-surprisingly, that there was no ‘black spot’. By this time the citrus was rotting — markets were lost and quickly filled by domestic US suppliers of citrus,” Clarke said.

Citing another complaint from Jamaican exporters, Clarke said Jamaican hot sauces shipped to “any port in Louisiana” — a state famous for its hot sauce manufacturers — had to run a “gauntlet of less than helpful US customs and health inspectors”.

It’s much easier, Clarke said, to ship the same products through ports in New York and Alaska.

In addition to taking an active role in negotiating trade agreements and disputes, Clarke said it’s important for small, developing states to form regional alliances with countries that “share similar concerns”.

“We must continue to solidify our business relations in the Caribbean and Latin America, recognising that although we are competitors we are also partners in a larger economic space. Advocacy through synergy is the only way to strengthen our negotiating position,” he said.

A spokesman at the US Embassy could not be reached late yesterday afternoon for comment on Clarke’s allegations of allegedly onerous and unfair trade practices in the US.