Dear Editors,

 

USTR Froman published a strongly worded opinion piece yesterday (Time to be honest, we are at the end of the line on Doha, Dec. 13) about this week’s World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. He calls for “pragmatism”, and to “look, think and act beyond Doha”. Disappointingly, he was silent on the responsibility the U.S. bears for the WTO’s failure as well as on the opportunities for the U.S. to show real leadership.

 

Any trade negotiating agenda for “beyond Doha” requires governments to consider how the current paralysis arose. The U.S. has not fulfilled important aspects of the mandate it accepted 20 years ago when it signed and ratified the Uruguay Round Agreements. Its trade-distorting support to agriculture remains vast and destabilizes international commodity markets. Its cotton program violates WTO rules and undermines the economies of some of the world’s poorest countries. It will not even make concessions on those aspects of its food aid that disrupt markets, though it has begun on a process of reform at home.

 

The USTR suggests the world might sign on to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). But the TPP exists because the U.S. trade agenda had no appeal to the vast majority of countries. Moreover, while the USTR’s explanation is that too few developing countries would engage at the WTO, forcing it to launch the TPP elsewhere, the reality is that the emergence of new negotiating powers from among developing countries created real pressure on the U.S. to negotiate cuts to its agriculture programs that disrupt international markets. At the same time, the U.S. will not concede that the exigencies of agriculture and food, including the difficult politics of food security and the rising risks associated with climate change, require that all countries need room for domestic adjustment, not just the U.S. and Europe.

 

Please do think and act beyond Doha, USTR Froman. But also take a long hard look at the world we are in, which your government has done so much to create. The TPP is a 19th century echo of big powers trying to control international markets for themselves. International markets need multilateralism to address 21st century challenges. Governments showed what is possible in Paris this past week. Now it is time to see some of that committed and shared leadership for trade.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sophia Murphy

 

 

Senior Advisor Trade and Global Governance

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

Minneapolis, MN (USA)

www.iatp.org; sophia.iatp@gmail.com

twitter: @foodresilience