The recently concluded trade agreement with Australia proved that we can move forward with free trade without sacrificing American sugar farmers.

There is misunderstanding about the concept of free trade in sugar. Ideally, all trade barriers would be eliminated, allowing genuine competition. However, recent regional and bilateral trade agreements have not reduced any sugar programs or policies. They merely grant additional access to the American sugar market without creating a reciprocal market for American-made sugar.

Countries that overproduce sugar seek trade agreements that will let them flood the United States with surplus sugar. America's sugar market is already oversupplied because of the market access we have guaranteed foreign producers as a result of previous trade agreements, recently the CAFTA. The world sugar market remains highly distorted by a vast array of subsidies and other trade-distorting programs that exist in all countries producing sugar. Australia has spent millions bailing out its industry and now taxes its consumers on retail sugar to provide additional cash payments to sugar growers.

The fact is that there is no free trade in sugar, yet Americans pay 20 percent less for sugar than consumers in most other developed countries.

Until truly free trade is achieved, it makes no sense to sacrifice tens of thousands of well-paying American jobs, including 25,000 in Florida. Achieving genuine free trade in sugar requires global negotiations to eliminate market-distorting practices in all sugar-producing nations.