*EPF508 06/04/2004
Agriculture Negotiators Closer to Agreement, USTR's Johnson Says
(Framework would advance WTO trade talks set for late July) (540)

By Kathryn McConnell
IIP Staff Writer

Washington -- Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are getting closer to reaching a "potentially historic agreement" to cut agricultural export subsidies, says the chief U.S. agriculture negotiator.

Speaking June 4 to reporters by telephone from Frankfurt, Germany, Allen Johnson expressed confidence that, through continuing dialogue, agriculture negotiators can work out specifics of a framework agreement on farm trade by mid-July.

Johnson said there is a "better atmosphere" than existed in 2003 and thus greater optimism that WTO trade ministers will reach agreement on the three agriculture "pillars" -- or main agriculture issues -- when they meet at the end of July. The pillars are export subsidies, domestic support and market access.

He said the United States welcomes a proposal by the Group of 20 developing nations (G20) unveiled May 28 to harmonize among rich and poor countries issues related to tariffs and market access. But, he said, the proposal needs more specificity. The G20 is led by Brazil, India and South Africa.

Johnson spoke to reporters following four days of talks by WTO agriculture negotiators in Geneva. The WTO currently has 147 member states.

"There's an attempt here on the part of everyone participating to address these trade distorting practices," he said.

He credited U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick with reinvigorating the agriculture talks. In January Zoellick sent a letter to all WTO trade ministers urging their support for reaching consensus on reducing farm trade barriers and in February he visited 40 countries to personally deliver this message.

Johnson said the European Union's (EU) statement in May that it is willing to negotiate an end to export subsidies also has improved the tone of the negotiations.

He said that since the release of that statement market access has become the "key" issue. He added that both developing and developed countries want more access for their products.

Johnson said that previous rounds of trade talks didn't even broach the concepts of market access or domestic farm subsidies. The United States also has been trying to negotiate the elimination of export subsidies "for decades," he added.

He said developed countries want to prevent poor countries from using a proposed "flexibility" for "sensitive products" from their countries as a nontariff market barrier. Other barriers the United States will continue to discuss in negotiations are food producer credits, special tax rates for producers and state trading enterprises that act as monopolies, he said.

Saying that most countries recognize that food aid is a negotiation issue "in a category by itself," Johnson said aid should not be linked to export competition.

He added that it is in the interest of developed countries to help the economies of poor countries -- especially the least developed countries (LDCs) -- to develop and grow. LDCs are those in which the majority of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Economic development leads to more trade, he said.

The farm talks are a key part of the Doha round of free trade negotiations launched in late 2001 and now behind schedule since they stalled when ministers met in 2003 in Cancun.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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