The Hill News

Three years since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously pushed for a reset of relations between the United States and Russia, the two nations have made progress. International relations being not unlike a dance where both partners like to take the lead, strides and swings forward do not some without a misstep or two. With Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), we have an opportunity to create a more harmonious trade partnership where both nations play to their strengths and grow our markets.

The economic benefits for the United States are real. Russia’s accession creates a ripe opportunity to broaden market access for American agricultural products including beef, pork, and poultry - a commodity that has been mired in an uncertain off-and-on trade status in recent years. U.S. food and agricultural exports to Russia totaled nearly $1.3 billion in 2010 with $336 million of that in red meats and $311 million in poultry. These sales w! ere during a time in which Russia had a nearly seven-month ban on U.S. poultry products due to differences in sanitary protocols, which resulted in an arbitrary trade barrier.

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