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Trade and Agriculture
General
Sugar
Bananas
Cotton
Issues for Ireland
EU
Other Voices
 Agriculture is the sector of DDA negotiations that has so far advanced the furthest. Agriculture negotiations encompass three ‘pillars’; tariff reductions, export subsidies and domestic support for farmers.
In Hong Kong WTO members agreed to eliminate all export subsidies by 2013. Members need to negotiate and agree precise details on this elimination by the end of April 2006. This includes reform to State Trading Enterprises in Australia, Canada and New Zealand and reform of the US’s Food Aid and Export Credit systems.
On domestic support negotiators have agreed a broad framework for cuts in trade distorting subsidies with the EU reducing support the most followed by the US, Japan and others. The EU has made an offer to bind its 2003 CAP reforms in the WTO, reducing trade-distorting payments to farmers by 70%.
On tariff reductions broad agreement has been reached on a system of tariff bands in which the highest tariffs will be cut by the most. The precise levels have not yet been agreed. The EU has offered to cut its highest tariffs by 60% and cut its average farm tariff almost in half to just 12%, the same as the current US average farm tariff. WTO negotiators will also have to agree the number of permitted ‘sensitive products’ which will be subject to reduced tariff cuts, but for which market access will still increase significantly.
Negotiations on agriculture began in early 2000, under Article 20 of the WTO Agriculture Agreement.
General
Policy Coherence in Trade and Agriculture, exploring links between EU agricultural trade policy and world poverty, Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
Impact of CAP Reform on Sub-Saharan African Countries, Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
Impact of EU agricultural protection on developing countries Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin.
“EU perspectives on WTO outcomes“ Mariann Fischer Boel, Member of the European Commission responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, ABARE Outlook Conference, Canberra, 1 March 2006
Impact of EU Agricultural Protection on Developing Countries Empirical studies show that trade-distorting OECD agricultural policies, including those of the EU, lower world prices and reduce exports and welfare in developing countries. The overall impact is of the order of $5-10 billion, with different studies producing different numbers depending on the methodologies used.
Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO negotiations. A report for the Agriculture Sector Study, prepared by Oliver Morrissey, Dirk Willem te Velde, Ian Gillson and Steve Wiggins, September 2005, ODI.
How rich countries are getting a free ride on agricultural subsidies at the WTO Oxfam Agricultural dumping has a devastating effect on poor countries. The Doha Round of negotiations is again giving rich countries a free ride to continue dumping subsidised produce on poor countries. Oxfam believes that the WTO meeting in Hong Kong must put an end to this hugely damaging practice.
Agriculture and Fisheries Trade, Developing Countries and the World Trade Organisation This background briefing examines the recent attempts to reduce these distortions through international trade rules and considers the possible implications for developing countries, 31/08/2001.
Sugar
EU Member States agree to one-year cut in sugar production European Union governments today agreed on a Commission proposal for a one-year cut of 2.5 million tonnes (13.6 percent) in sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup production. This one-off reduction is necessary to ensure that the newly-reformed sugar regime gets underway without heavy surpluses undermining market balance.
Reform of the sugar sector 20/02/2006 - European Union agriculture ministers today formally adopted a radical reform of the EU sugar sector.
EU radically reforms its sugar sector to give producers long-term competitive future European Union agriculture ministers today reached political agreement on a wide-ranging reform of the Common Market Organisation for sugar, based on the proposal tabled by the European Commission in June..
Dumping on the world: How EU sugar policies hurt poor countries Oxfam. European Union (EU) sugar policies hamper global efforts to reduce poverty. improve market access for the poorest countries.
Forthcoming changes in the EU Banana and Sugar Markets: A menu of options for an effective EU transitional package. An ODI paper by Ian Gillson, Adrian Hewitt and Sheila Page.
Bananas
Bananas: EU committed to fair deal for all developing countries Mariann Fischer Boel, Member of the European Commission responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference – Press conference, Hong Kong, 14 December 2005.
Cotton
Developed Country Cotton Subsidies and developing countries: unraveling the impacts on Africa. An ODI Briefing Paper by Ian Gillson, July 2004.
 Services
Ranging from architecture to voice-mail telecommunications and to space transport, services are the largest and most dynamic component of both developed and developing country economies.
Their inclusion in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations led to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Since January 2000, they have become the subject of multilateral trade negotiations.
See the ODI WTO portal on trade for more detail on the issues at stake in the services sector for developing countries in the Doha Round.
Issues for Ireland
Statements from Dáil Éireann on the Doha Round: World Trade Organisation Negotiations
EU
The EU is one of the key players in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This is because the EU has a common trade policy, where the European Commission negotiates on behalf of the Union’s 25 Member States. As such, the EU is one of the driving forces behind the current round of multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
For more information see:
The EU and the WTO
EU Trade Policy and the WTO
The Doha Development Agenda – EU Background on the issues
The Doha Development Agenda - EU Submissions
EU Speeches and articles on trade
Europe’s response to globalisation: where does EU trade policy go from here? Speech by Peter Mandelson, Wolfsberg, Switzerland, 4 May 2006
Ambition and Realism: Europe’s Approach to the Doha Round Speech by Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner, European Commission Representation, Helsinki, Finland 21 April 2006
Mandelson on Doha: "There are a limited number of cards left on the table. They cannot be played in isolation" Remarks to the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament. Brussels, 21 March 2006
Re-Claiming Development in the Doha Round Speech by Peter Mandelson at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry,Mauritius, 9 February 2006
EU Trade Policy after Hong Kong Speech by Commissioner Peter Mandelson at the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Berlin, 23 January 2006
Doha Development agenda Infopack 2006
London meeting brings key WTO negotiators together to prepare for April deadline. Memo
Other Voices
Africa: No Development in Development Round, Africa Focus Bulletin
May 20, 2005
Pitfalls on the road from Hong Kong, Sukumar Muralidharan | 19 December 2005
For all the talk of development, the asymmetry of power among its 149 member states a remains fundamental feature of the World Trade Organisation, argues a senior Indian journalist who attended the Doha, Seattle, Cancún and Hong Kong meetings.
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