Ron Kirk
DAVOS, Switzerland — Outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in interviews during the World Economic Forum here this weekend that he favor a free-trade agreement with the European Union, but that it must address potential problems including those in agriculture or it will be a waste of time.

“If we do this, we want there to be a bridge to somewhere and we want to get there on one tank of gas,’” Kirk told The New York Times.

He noted that more members of Congress come from districts than contain farms than contain Boeing or Apple, companies that are expected to benefit from a trade deal.

“Agriculture tends to be a challenging issue,” Kirk said.

While American farmers export a lot and agriculture tends to benefit from trade deals, there are real trade tensions between U.S. and European agriculture. Agriculture leaders in both the United States and the European Union have told The Hagstrom Report that they want to bring up issues that have proven contentious in the past.

The Americans want the Europeans to ease their objections to genetically modified seed and the foods that come from them, while the Europeans want the Americans to accept geographical indications, the rules under which products can use geographical place names such as Champagne and Parma only if they come from the regions that originally produced them.

Kirk has announced his intention to step down from his position in February.