McLean, Va. – The U.S. Apple Association (USApple) today joined more than 75 other food and agricultural groups in endorsing President George W. Bush’s request for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). Apple industry leaders met today with President Bush, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and other senior officials at the White House to discuss the administration’s agricultural trade priorities.

“U.S. apple growers export roughly 32 million cartons of fresh apples annually, valued at nearly $400 million, to more than 45 countries around the world,” said USApple Vice President James Cranney, who attended today’s White House briefing. “The U.S. apple industry clearly has a vested interest in the administration’s agricultural trade agenda, which seeks to expand our nation’s access to foreign markets through ‘equitable and reciprocal’ trade agreements.”

The apple industry has a huge stake in the international trade arena. Apple production in the United States has increased from 188 million bushels in 1985 to 252 million bushels last year – a 34 percent increase. While domestic fresh apple consumption has remained relatively flat, export sales have increased a whopping 200 percent – from roughly 10 million bushels in 1985 to nearly 30 million bushels in 1999.

USApple Chairman Phil Glaize, of Fred L. Glaize L.C., Winchester, Va., also attended the White House agriculture trade briefing with President Bush.

“Clearly, for the apple industry to remain competitive in the global market, U.S. growers need our government negotiators to achieve a level the playing field by further opening the doors to foreign markets,” said Glaize. “Our industry’s economic survival may hinge on the administration’s ability to garner greater access to foreign markets through bilateral and multilateral trade talks.”

U.S. apple growers face numerous challenges in competing with other apple producing countries. U.S. apple exports to several Central and South American markets, for example, are hindered by high tariffs and Chile’s unfair competitive advantage. USApple looks to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) to increase U.S. apple exports to this region by lowering tariffs and leveling the competitive playing field between the United States and Chile’s apple growers.

Still other regions of the world, such as the European Union (EU), unfairly subsidize their apple producers. EU apple growers, for example, receive $2 billion annually in government support. In addition, numerous countries use non-tariff barriers to trade to prohibit imports of U.S. apples. U.S. apple growers look to the multilateral agriculture trade talks under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to eliminate trade-distorting domestic agricultural subsidies and non-justified phytosanitary barriers to trade.

Nearly one-quarter of the nation’s apple crop is exported annually, with Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom representing major markets for American-grown apples.

The U.S. Apple Association (USApple) is the national trade association representing all segments of the apple industry. Members include 40 state apple associations representing 9,000 apple growers throughout the country, as well as nearly 500 individual firms involved in the apple business. USApple’s mission is to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.