US, Brazil Strike Deal in WTO Cotton Subsidy Dispute
The U.S. and Brazil reached a compromise on a long-running trade dispute involving U.S. cotton subsidies and agricultural export credit guarantees, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Oct. 1. Brazil agreed to not challenge…
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those U.S. policies at the World Trade Organization. The Brazilian government threatened in February to hit back against the U.S. subsidies, saying they had already developed a retaliation list, but that threat petered out over the following months (see 14011425). After the dispute process launched in 2002, the WTO granted Brazil retaliation rights in 2009 (here). “American businesses, including agricultural businesses and producers, could have faced countermeasures in the way of increased tariffs totaling hundreds of millions of dollars every year,” said Vilsack a statement. “This removes that threat and ensures American cotton farmers will have effective risk management tools.” The statement did not give details on what the U.S. conceded in the agreement.