by Judson Phillips
In 2020, the United States was a net energy exporter. The US had produced more energy than it needed domestically. America is now at the mercy of foreign and hostile powers for the energy America needs.
Imagine for a moment if that were true for food.
America’s food supplies are threatened by a cabal of foreign and domestic forces that could, one day, see America becoming as dependent on them for food as we are on other countries now for energy.
America’s sugar supply is threatened by forces, foreign and domestic. The foreign forces are other nations that subsidize their sugar prices. These subsidies are extensive and often are what lawyers and economists refer to as “predatory pricing.” Predatory pricing is pricing so low that competitors cannot meet that price and cover their costs, thus they are forced out of business.
Imagine for a moment that American sugar farmers were forced out of business by predatory pricing. What would happen?
Some sugar farmers would go out of business and their farms sold. Those farms would either be repurposed for other crops or perhaps taken out of agriculture all together. Other farms might survive by switching to other crops.
Then America is completely dependent on foreign sources for all the nation’s sugar needs.
Sugar is a basic component in many foods Americans consume and what happens if there is no sugar? What happens if sugar producing foreign nations destroy our sugar farmers and then because of some global conflict, cut us off.
As America is discovering with oil, we won’t be able to just turn a switch and bring it back. If we had to bring sugar production back, it would take time to clear fields, to replant sugar beets or sugar cane, have them grow, harvest them, bring factories back online and train workers to process them, and get them to market. Not only would this process take time, but it would also be expensive.
American sugar farmers are being pressured, not only by foreign governments that engage in predatory pricing, but also from Americans who believe in “free trade.” Free trade is one of those great ideas that in theory is wonderful, but in practice can be a disaster. The definition of free trade among the free traders who are often ascendent in Republican politics is that the United States does not impose tariffs or other penalties against imports. It does not matter what the country sending America those imports do to manipulate the marketplace.
That country could engage in unfair and hidden subsidies or even in predatory pricing. But according to the free traders, that is acceptable as long as there are no protective tariffs imposed by the United States.
This idea of free trade is a disaster for all Americans but particularly for America’s sugar farmers. This so-called “free trade” will do exactly what America’s foreign sugar competitors want – tilt the playing field in their favor.
This will put American sugar out of business. We will be dependent on sometimes hostile foreign governments for our sugar and it will be impossible to build back.
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Judson Phillips is a long time conservative pundit and founder of Tea Party Nation.
