For all of the conservative movements’ rightful paroxysms regarding open borders, it is perplexing why those who champion free markets wish to throw open the trade border to an avalanche of heavily subsidized foreign sugar from nations such as China, India, and Brazil, among others. Such a policy would surely spell the end for U.S. farmers who would not be able to compete against a heavily subsidized foreign product sold at or below cost. We would further wave goodbye to the 151,000 jobs our domestic sugar industry supports, and the $23 billion it presently contributes to our economy.

Our nation’s current sugar policy is ably designed to maintain a consistent supply and price for sugar by limiting foreign imports and it has worked wondrously. Sugar today is cheaper than it was in the last century and consumers and domestic food producers have never had to suffer damaging and uncertain disruptions in supply. As important, we have protected our world-class farmers from predatory nations seeking to capture domestic market share through dumping, a fact even the feckless World Trade Organization has acknowledged. Yet none of this impresses some who consider any form of government assistance to be protectionist and anathema to a free market.

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