Star Tribune (Mpls-St. Paul) | November 13, 2001
The United States is willing to eliminate export credits for its farmers, leaving the European Union (EU) isolated in its insistence on continuing such subsidies, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Monday during world trade talks in Doha, Qatar.
"I think it's fair to say they're on the table," Veneman said of export subsidies during the latest round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, which focused heavily on agriculture.
U.S. export credits -- guaranteed loans to farmers selling overseas -- amount to about $3.5 billion, of which only about $70 million is considered a subsidy, the Agriculture Department said.
After four days of talks in Doha, Veneman said the hard bargaining on agriculture was expected to be done today -- the session's final day -- when ministers hope to produce agreement on an agenda for new international trade talks.
She has called for greater access to international markets for U.S. farmers.
"[The Bush] administration is committed to increasing trade opportunities for our farmers and fighting to reduce tariffs that harm our ability to compete in the global marketplace," Veneman said in a news release from Doha.
The world's population is expected to grow to 9.3 billion by 2050, which could create more international customers for U.S. farmers and ranchers, she said. But tariffs outside the United States on food and agricultural products are too high, she said.
"We need to do more to bring balance to trade practices," Veneman said. Differences over agriculture -- and specifically demands that the 15-nation European Union eliminate export subsidies -- helped sink the last attempt in Seattle in 1999.
EU countries pay for more than 80 percent of export subsidies for farm products worldwide. The EU's total farm support is about $38 billion annually.
The EU's negotiating position remains unchanged, but Veneman said it was "pretty isolated" in its refusal to accept that any new talks aim at "phasing out" agriculture subsidies.
Despite calling for reduced farm subsidies for other countries, the United States still spends massive amounts to support its farmers, said representatives of a Minneapolis-based trade policy group attending the WTO talks.
Leaders of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) said U.S. farmers could be harmed by some current proposals discussed in Qatar. "We don't feel that these trade agreements should undercut our ability domestically to support our farmers," said Ben Lilliston, the group's spokesman.
The IATP is one of a few non-governmental organizations in Minnesota to be accredited for participation in the WTO talks, he said. The group is pressing delegates to reduce subsidies for farmers.
The United States spent $27 billion on domestic farm support last year.
"It is the height of hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. to push for other countries to lower their subsidy payments, when its own government turns around and does the opposite," Mark Ritchie, the IATP's president, said in an e-mail from Doha on Monday.
"It is the subsidization of agriculture that has created record low prices and allowed multinational agribusiness companies to dump crops onto the world-market at below-cost-of-production prices."
Sophia Murphy, IATP trade director, said the dumping of U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat onto the world market drives farmers in other countries out of business and distorts the world market.
"U.S. farmers and farmers worldwide are the victims in this system, while agribusiness benefits from record-low prices," she said. "The current draft text does nothing to correct the critical problem of dumping."
Star Tribune Staff writer Joy Powell contributed to this report.Star Tribune (Mpls-St. Paul):
