Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act
This bill establishes a joint task force to identify and address trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports.
Specifically, the bill directs the President to establish the Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force. Members of this task force must include employees of the Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The bill requires the task force to (1) identify trade barriers to U.S. agricultural exports that are vulnerable to dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) or other trade agreements, (2) develop and implement a strategy for enforcing violations of trade agreements related to those trade barriers, (3) identify like-minded trading partners for specific trade barriers that could act as complainants on disputes that are systemically or economically important to the United States, and (4) submit periodic reports to Congress.
In its initial report, the task force must include a plan for filing a request under the WTO dispute settlement process for consultations to address India's minimum price supports.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5620 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5620
To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify trade
barriers to United States agricultural exports and carry out other
related duties.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 30, 2025
Mr. Crawford (for himself, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, and Mr. Higgins of
Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify trade
barriers to United States agricultural exports and carry out other
related duties.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural
Disputes and Enforcement Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Agricultural competitiveness through access to
international markets is a vital part of the United States
economy.
(2) A healthy, well-functioning rules-based trading system
is the basis for the success of United States agricultural
exports.
(3) When foreign governments erect trade barriers this
makes it difficult for United States agricultural exporters to
compete in the global marketplace while undermining the rules-
based trading system.
(4) These trade barriers can harm United States farmers,
ranchers, workers, and businesses, and they can also lead to
higher prices for consumers and a less resilient international
trading system.
(5) Dispute settlement is available through trade
agreements with 165 other countries and there are protectionist
trade barriers to United States agricultural exports in many of
these countries.
(6) Many of these barriers are systemically important. For
example, India's unrestrained use of price support programs
violates its commitments under the World Trade Organization
(WTO).
(7) India recognizes that its price support programs
violate its WTO commitments, so instead of reforming its
programs, it has repeatedly demanded a permanent exemption from
disputes for these programs. Moreover, India has tried to
prevent discussions at the WTO of any other significant
agricultural trade issue unless it receives such a permanent
exemption.
(8) The Government of India has repeatedly raised its
minimum price supports, which has had negative effects on
several commodity markets and most notably has led to its
dominance of the global rice trade, with a 40-percent share of
the global market since marketing year 2020 through 2021. India
is also the world's largest producer of pulses and second
largest producer of wheat, peanuts, and cotton.
(9) The United States Trade Representative has submitted
several counter notifications at the World Trade Organization
showing that price supports provided by the Government of India
are well beyond the World Trade Organization limit for India of
10 percent of the value of production. For example, the latest
counter notification for rice shows support at 87.9 percent in
marketing year 2022 through 2023 and for wheat at 67.5 percent
for the same period. Other commodities also received support
levels well beyond 10 percent commitment limits in previous
counter notifications, including 67.9 percent for cotton, 31.7
percent for chickpeas, 41 percent for lentils, and 47.4 percent
for pulses.
(10) Minor attempts to reform the Indian agriculture
subsidy system in the marketing year 2020/2021 failed to
produce results. The enacted reforms would not have changed the
policies that violate WTO commitments but would have merely
provided farmers with opportunities to sell their products
outside of the government-run ``mandi'' system, but those were
ultimately repealed.
(11) Dispute settlement is an effective way to provide a
neutral assessment of compliance with trade agreement terms and
provide the United States a legal framework for enforcement
mechanisms to facilitate fair and reciprocal trade.
(12) Global agriculture is uniquely susceptible to trade
barriers and requires special attention to resolve myriad
systemic and economically significant trade violations that
impede the development of a resilient, sustainable, and rules-
based agricultural trading system.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States should accelerate efforts to address
foreign trade barriers that harm United States agricultural
exports;
(2) the Office of the United States Trade Representative
and the Department of Agriculture both have a critical role in
developing agricultural trade disputes;
(3) Congress and the private sector have key roles to play
in the development of disputes and agricultural trade
enforcement strategy;
(4) in the case of India's minimum price supports, the
United States has exhausted other options available through the
World Trade Organization short of requesting consultations
under the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU);
(5) there should be a plan and definitive deadlines in
place for a request for consultations and establishment of a
panel under the DSU;
(6) the Office of the United States Trade Representative
and the Department of Agriculture should jointly develop a
proactive enforcement strategy for addressing systemic and
economically significant trade barriers in the agriculture
sector, in consultation with Congress and the private sector;
and
(7) the Office of the United States Trade Representative is
the lead agency for United States trade policy.
SEC. 4. AGRICULTURAL TRADE ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the President shall establish a joint task force
to be known as the ``Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force''
(referred to in this section as the ``Task Force'').
(b) Duties.--
(1) In general.--The Task Force shall--
(A) identify trade barriers to United States
agricultural exports that are vulnerable to dispute
settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) or
other trade agreements;
(B) develop and implement a strategy for enforcing
violations of trade agreements related to these trade
barriers;
(C) identify like-minded trading partners for
specific trade barriers that could act as co-
complainants or primary complainants on disputes that
are systemically or economically important to the
United States; and
(D) report quarterly to Congress on progress
towards resolving cases or filing disputes.
(2) Consultation.--In carrying out its duties under this
subsection, the Task Force shall regularly consult, to the
extent necessary and appropriate, with the following:
(A) Relevant stakeholders in the private sector,
including the agricultural trade advisory committees.
(B) Federal departments and agencies that are not
represented on the Task Force.
(C) Like-minded trading partners that are similarly
concerned with trade barriers and are potential
participants in the dispute settlement process.
(c) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The Task Force shall be comprised of the
following members:
(A) One or more employees of the Foreign
Agricultural Service, who shall be appointed by the
Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural
Affairs.
(B) One or more employees of the Office of the
United States Trade Representative, who shall be
appointed jointly by the General Counsel for the Office
of the United States Trade Representative and the Chief
Agricultural Negotiator.
(C) One or more employees of other Federal agencies
as needed, who shall be appointed jointly by the
officials specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B).
(2) Qualification.--Employees of the Federal agencies
specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1)
may be appointed as members of the Task Force only if such
employees have appropriate expertise in agricultural trade
policy and trade enforcement.
(d) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and on a quarterly basis thereafter,
the Task Force shall submit to Congress a report on its
progress in identifying and addressing trade barriers to United
States agricultural exports.
(2) Matters to be included.--The report required by this
subsection shall include the following:
(A) A description of the systemic and economically
significant trade barriers that have been identified.
(B) A justification for including the identified
trade barriers.
(C) A description of the progress that has been
made in developing dispute settlement cases and further
information that is required.
(D) The current status of ongoing disputes at the
WTO and implementation of panel, arbitration, or
Appellate Body decisions.
(3) Additional matters to be included in initial report.--
The initial report required by this subsection shall, in
addition to the matters described in subparagraphs (A), (B),
(C), and (D) of paragraph (2), include a plan to file a request
under the WTO dispute settlement process for consultations to
address India's minimum price supports. The plan shall
include--
(A) an identification of like-minded trading
partners that could act as co-complainants or primary
complainants with respect to the request;
(B) a description of specific claims the United
States intends to make with respect to the request; and
(C) a timeline to--
(i) request consultations; and
(ii) request the establishment of a panel
not later than 60 days after the date of the
request for consultations if India does not
provide assurances that it will address its
minimum price supports.
(e) Congressional Briefings.--The United States Trade
Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture shall provide briefings
on the Task Force to appropriate Members of Congress and congressional
staff.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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