The Miami Herald | By JANE BUSSEY | September 19, 2003
At first glance, the collapse of global trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, would seem like good news for Florida's citrus and sugar interests -- key state industries that face major regional competition.
But there was only muted cheer over the failure last weekend of World Trade Organization talks to reach an agreement on an agenda and framework for future talks.
The breakdown in talks leaves growers in limbo.
''You have this cloud hanging over you,'' said Robert Coker, senior vice president of public affairs at U.S. Sugar Corp., a Clewiston company that has both sugar and citrus operations.
''From the citrus perspective, they would really have liked to have some finality,'' Coker said. Citrus is an industry of long-term investment, with groves planted today destined for picking in five years.
Both the Florida business community eager for more new free-trade pacts and state agricultural interests leery of the results have turned their focus on the upcoming meeting of hemispheric trade ministers in Miami on Nov. 20-21.
Brazil emerged as the most forceful leader of developing countries at the WTO talks in Cancun and is expected to take an equally strong stance in Miami where the ministers will discuss the scope of negotiations for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
''Brazil shook the cage,'' Coker said. 'If they continue with this attitude of 'we want your market but we don't want anything in our market,' that is pretty unacceptable.''
Florida lawmaker Adam Putnam, who also was in Cancun, also noted the strong Brazilian stance.
''It will be important to Florida to see what their approach is in Miami's FTAA meeting in November,'' Putnam said in a statement.
Citrus and sugar operate under different farming programs. Citrus receives no subsidies, although there are tariffs of 29 cents for a gallon of orange juice concentrate. Florida's only major competition in citrus is Brazil.
Sugar involves a complex system of tariff rate quotas, which imposes tariffs and extends quotas to sugar-producing countries that allows most of them to export some sugar and receive higher prices. The U.S. sugar industry insists that the European Union and other bigger producers subsidize their own sugar production, creating unfair competition if tariffs are eliminated.
Citrus growers represented at the Cancun talks said the drafted text appeared to allow the U.S. government to support the citrus industry with tariffs.
''There were some things in the market access that would have provided some flexibility on the part of the administration that could include citrus,'' said Andy LaVigne, executive vice president and chief executive of Florida Citrus Mutual, located in Lakeland. ''We were trying to work with the administration to make sure that it stayed in.''
The nearly intractable differences between richer and poorer countries over subsidies, price supports and market access in the farm sector dominated the trade talks.
But the WTO talks actually collapsed when three nations, Kenya, South Korea and India, walked out over the European Union's insistence on negotiating a new array of nontrade issues that involve investment and other domestic rules.The Miami Herald:
