The United States should work outside of the “failed construct” of the Doha Round negotiations if it wants to see freer trade in agriculture, said House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway. In a statement, Conaway said other nations “have consistently refused U.S. offers to achieve meaningful reform” of import tariffs on U.S. goods or their own domestic farm subsidies.
The Doha Round was launched in 2001 and has yet to reach a broad agreement. Conaway, a Texas Republican, said progress toward a fairer trading environment must be pursued in other arenas and in focused agreements such as the decision by WTO negotiators over the weekend to eliminate agricultural export subsidies.
“I will continue to shine a bright light on the harmful, and in some cases illegal, trading practices of China, India, and other trading partners because they deny America’s farmers and ranchers the level playing field they have so often been promised and certainly deserve,” said Conaway.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said trade ministers discussed “the limitations of the Doha Development Agenda framework” during the meeting that led to consensus on ag export subsidies. “As WTO members start work next year, they will be freed to consider new approaches to pressing unresolved issues and begin evaluating new issues for the organization to consider,” said Froman.
“That new era is likely to see the WTO move towards more narrowly focused negotiations rather than the large monolithic global agreement targeted in the Doha round, something the U.S. has been pushing for alongside other WTO members in recent years,” said the Financial Times.