Member-nations of the World Trade Organization have voted to end export subsidies on agricultural products.
The agreement, announced Dec. 19 requires developed countries to halt subsidies in 2016 while developing nations have until the end of 2018.
The deal also allows developing nations the right to temporarily increase tariffs if imports increase dramatically by using a “special safeguard mechanism.”
The ministers, meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, said the change will help farmers in developing nations compete in global markets. The agreement is the latest development in the so-called Doha Round of negotiations which was launched in 2001.
House Agriculture Committee chair Michael Conaway expressed some concerns with the agreement. The deal allows developing countries to continue to use export subsidies for transportation and marketing for another eight years. Conaway says the U.S. contends the authority for those subsidies expired in 2004.
The chairman also notes that while the agreement acknowledges the reforms made to U.S. domestic cotton policy, it does nothing about the “harmful impacts that China and India’s domestic cotton policies are having upon cotton farmers around the world.”
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com