Froman Urges Progress on WTO Trade Facilitation and Agriculture Deals
The success of other World Trade Organization (WTO) priorities is contingent on full implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman at a WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Paris, France on May 7. Froman pledged further financial support to those countries that need the most facilitation development assistance. The WTO partners should also continue to work to reconcile differences on agriculture provisions as part of the Doha Round, still currently underway, said Froman.
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“We’ve got no problem with agriculture setting the pace of the negotiations -- again, as long as that pace is matched in other core market access pillars, and provided that the discussion of agriculture addresses all of the relevant issues,” said Froman. “There are threshold questions that will determine whether we are serious about addressing agriculture in this institution -- whether we can avoid a tired debate focused more on scoring political points than by making meaningful progress.”
Market access barriers and state-owned enterprises are continuing to distort the global market, he said. The Obama administration is waiting on the WTO to provide global agricultural subsidy statistics, said Froman. “Certain domestic subsidies can also distort markets,” he added. “The largest emerging economies now subsidize their farmers at levels as high or higher than the United States and Europe. Moreover, developed country subsidies have been decreasing, while emerging country subsidies have risen dramatically.”