13 February 2004

AFB chief: U.S., EU must stand together on ag issues in WTO

The following article is excerpted from “American Shipper” of 13 February 2004.

The head of the Washington-based American Farm Bureau Federation believes the U.S. and EU agricultural policymakers must stand together to move the stalled World Trade Organization negotiations forward.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said future success in the WTO Doha Round can only be achieved by moving "forward together to engage our challengers with a united message that seeks legitimate, realistic reform of all three main pillars of agricultural trade: reduction of trade distorting domestic supports, elimination of export subsidies, and increased market access."

Stallman pointed out in a presentation in the United Kingdom this week that U.S. agricultural products continue to face market access restrictions and tariff barriers. …

Stallman believes that if the United States and European Union had been able to stand together on export subsidy elimination and domestic support reforms, the WTO Doha Round would have had greater momentum….

Now the negotiations have turned into a "developed vs. developing" country debate, Stallman said. He called farm policies of the United States, European Union and Japan "the targets of scorn from virtually every other nation, both developed and developing.

"We must realize that we're suddenly and vastly outnumbered by highly energized challengers," Stallman added. "And perhaps the biggest problem is the audience is cheering for them."