America

WTO urges US to cut farm subsidies

(AP)
Updated: 2007-05-01 08:58

The World Trade Organization (WTO) urged the United States on Monday to offer further cuts in its trade-distorting farm subsidies to help promote a breakthrough in the Doha Round trade negotiations.

The United States still insists that it should be allowed to keep a domestic support level up to 22 billion U.S. dollars, which is even higher than the level it is allowed now, said Crawford Falconer, chairperson of the WTO's agriculture negotiations.

"It is frankly inconceivable that the U.S. will come out of this negotiation with an entitlement to spend more on overall trade distorting domestic support than it had when it came in," Falconer said in a discussion paper circulated to WTO members aimed to give a push to the deadlocked talks.

In the 26-page paper, Falconer noted that the United State should agree to cut its domestic agricultural support level to below 19 billion U.S. dollars and "somewhere above the very low teens" so that an agreement could be reached among WTO members by the end of this year.

In his paper, Falconer also called on WTO's developed members, particularly the EU, to offer further cuts in agricultural tariffs. Developing members should also make concessions in market access if the talks were to be concluded, he said.

The Doha Round has been in deadlock mainly over agricultural issues since it was launched in 2001.

Falconer's "challenging paper" kicked off a process which he said was designed to provoke comments from members on where consensus might be achieved.

"Now is the time for honest talk - for telling it how one sees it in the hope that sincerity might at least promote a greater seriousness of purpose amongst us all," Falconer said.

"If we do not get serious momentum over the next few weeks, I hesitate to say months, we will either fail or we will put this whole exercise in the freezer for some considerable time until a better generation than us can thaw it out," he warned.