U.S. farm, food groups urge Congress to pass authority for new trade deals

More than 50 U.S. agriculture and food groups on Thursday urged Congress and to approve new legislation that will clear the way for the United States to negotiate more free-trade agreements, arguing that without them American agriculture was falling behind global competitors.

The groups, representing a wide variety of U.S. agricultural exports from corn to dairy, meat, fresh produce and other products, said that efforts by the Biden administration were not enough to overcome the growing network of free-trade deals forged by the European Union, China and other countries.