U.S. firm on opening global agricultural trade
The Bush administration said it remains firm on its demand for open agricultural trade under the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda.
The WTO agenda was started at Qatar in October 2001. In September 2003, the agenda came undone to eliminate tariffs on agricultural goods at Cancun, Mexico.
U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick has spent the past year attempting to win support from both industrialized and developing countries to eliminate agricultural tariffs. He said the United States had offered to make large reductions in farm subsidies, but only if other countries cut their subsidies and open markets.
“We will not accept a deal to put the round back on track simply for the sake of a deal,” Zoellick said in a statement Monday. Zoellick will participate in WTO meetings in Geneva this week.
A University of Michigan study estimates that global free trade in goods and services would raise the U.S. annual income $500 billion. The same study cited gains of up to $690 billion for the European Union. According to the World Bank, developing countries would increase their annual income to $539 billion as a result of tariff-free trade.