S. 743 — Ag Disputes Act

This section states congressional findings that (1) access to international markets is vital for U.S. agricultural competitiveness and a rules-based trading system underpins U.S. agriculture exports; (2) foreign trade barriers, including India's price support programs exceeding WTO limits (e.g., rice from 78.6% to 93.9% of production value during marketing years 2014-2015 to 2020-2021, wheat from 77.7% to 81.3%, cotton at 67.9%, chickpeas at 31.7%, lentils at 41%, and pulses overall at 47.4% in 2016-2017), harm U.S. farmers, ranchers, workers, businesses, and consumers while enabling India's dominance in global rice (40% market share since 2020-2021) and other commodities; and (3) dispute settlement through trade agreements with 163 countries is essential to enforce compliance and support reformers.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) the President should accelerate efforts to address foreign trade barriers harming U.S. agricultural exports; (2) the United States Trade Representative and Secretary of Agriculture have critical roles in developing agricultural trade disputes; (3) Congress and the private sector have key roles in developing disputes and agricultural trade enforcement strategy; (4) regarding price supports by the Government of India, the President has exhausted World Trade Organization options short of requesting consultations under the Dispute Settlement Understanding; (5) there should be a plan and deadlines for requesting consultations and establishing a panel under the Dispute Settlement Understanding; (6) the United States Trade Representative and Secretary of Agriculture, consulting Congress and the private sector, should develop a proactive enforcement strategy for systemic and economically significant agricultural trade barriers; and (7) the Office of the United States Trade Representative is the lead agency for U.S. trade policy.

This section establishes the Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force not later than 30 days after enactment of the Act, to be chaired jointly by the Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The task force, comprising employees from those entities (with USTR appointees having agricultural trade policy and enforcement expertise), plus representatives from other federal agencies as determined by USTR or the Secretary of Agriculture, must (1) identify trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports vulnerable to World Trade Organization (WTO) or other dispute settlement; (2) develop and implement enforcement strategies; (3) identify like-minded trading partners as potential co-complainants; and (4) consult regularly with private-sector stakeholders (including agricultural trade advisory committees), non-member federal agencies, and potential partners. The task force must submit reports to Congress beginning 90 days after enactment and quarterly thereafter describing identified systemic or economically significant barriers, justifications, dispute progress, and ongoing WTO case status (with confidential information redacted and briefed separately to Congress, staff, and cleared advisors). The first report must include a plan for WTO consultations with India on its agricultural price supports—specifying U.S. claims, identified co-complainants, a timeline for requesting consultations, and for requesting a WTO panel if India fails to comply satisfactorily within 60 days of the request.