USTR, USDA HOLD OUT HOPE FOR AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY, TARIFF REDUCTIONS

USTR, USDA HOLD OUT HOPE FOR AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY, TARIFF REDUCTIONS    In a joint statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman asked World Trade Organization members to accept sweeping reductions in global agricultural subsidies and tariffs.
   “Agricultural exporters have a justified interest in reducing barriers to their trade, just as past global negotiations have cut the cost of trade in industrial and consumer goods; indeed, major industrial powers should recognize this need for more equal treatment,” the officials said.
   The officials said “the United States is disappointed, but not surprised, that resistance to change and reform of the world agricultural trade stymied agreement on modalities for cuts in subsidies and tariffs by the March 31 deadline.”
   The United States plans to continue to push for substantial reductions in agricultural subsidies and tariffs as prescribed by the WTO’s November 2001 Doha Development Agenda.
   “We want to eliminate export subsidies,” the U.S. officials said. “We want to cut other subsidies that distort farm production by $100 billion, in the process harmonizing the amount of permitted subsidies at much lower levels — moving toward fairer, more equal treatment of the path to eliminating these subsidies, too.”
   “We want to cut global agricultural tariffs by 75 percent, with no tariff higher than 25 percent,” they added.
   The next WTO ministerial meeting will be held in Cancun in September.