Chairman Conaway condemns Turkish cotton investigation
House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued the following statement after the Turkish government announced a three percent duty on all U.S. cotton fiber imports into Turkey. This action follows the country’s unfounded investigation into whether U.S. cotton was dumped into Turkey, an allegation the National Cotton Council has challenged, saying it has no merit.
“American cotton growers remain under assault, and the problems just keep coming. Just last week, China announced it will start selling off government-owned stockpiles, a result of their reckless policy that has depressed world cotton prices and that continues to hang over the market. Add to that the fact that India’s minimum support price and input subsidies have resulted in India topping China as the world’s largest producer. Now Turkey, the nation’s second largest cotton customer, is slapping U.S. cotton exporters with a three percent duty as retaliation against a U.S. investigation into Turkish steel exports. This investigation was blatant retaliation, violated WTO procedure, and was anything but transparent. The findings are baseless and the duties should be dropped immediately.”