On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
In 2004, the WTO, the World Trade Organization, found the United States guilty of illegal subsidies to American cotton farmers. It's been a long process, but Brazil is a very important ally of ours. We get along fine. They are very important to us strategically in our own hemisphere, so we want to get along with Brazil. And because of that, we worked out this settlement which kept Brazil from putting retaliatory tariffs on us. That saved us money. If we did not agree to this--which Mr. Kind has pointed out--$147 million, we would have to pay $829 million. This is less, and it only is in effect until the farm bill is passed. In the 2012 farm bill, we'll deal with that.
