Stalled WTO Ag Talks

The way to breathe life into stalled World Trade Organization agricultural talks, trade officials say, is to build a framework for a deal. Otherwise, they fear, 2004 could turn out to be a wasted year.

The fact that 2004 is an election year for many WTO countries only compounds the problem.

Agriculture remains the biggest stumbling block in WTO negotiations to complete a new binding treaty on reducing import tariffs and other barriers to free international trade among the 146 WTO members.

The crux of the problem involves a call by developing nations to halt the $1-billion-dollar-a-day farm subsidies paid by affluent Western countries --- subsidies, they claim, provide Western farmers with an unfair advantage over their counterparts in developing countries.

For their part, Western countries want to see developing countries to reduce input duties on agricultural products and manufactured goods.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 26, 2004 08:43 AM | TrackBack