Posted on 08/11/2005 8:51:25 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
DAKAR (Reuters) - The United States has told African nations they must await a global trade deal before Washington will cut farm export subsidies, warning that failure at WTO talks in December could see subsidies extended for years.
A meeting in Senegal's capital Dakar with the 37 countries eligible for trade perks under Washington's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has offered U.S. trade chiefs a chance to explain to African counterparts G8 commitments made earlier this month to end farm export subsidies damaging African farmers.
African officials have said they will press for a timetable, but U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told them not to expect one until other rich countries agreed to dismantle their subsidies too in World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Hong Kong in December under the so-called Doha round of negotiations.
"If we do not complete the Doha round in December the whole world will move on," Johanns told a news conference in Dakar late on Monday after the three-day AGOA meeting opened.
"If we do not (complete Doha) a new farm bill will be set in place for a number of years and we will have lost the opportunity quite literally into the next decade," he said.
U.S. farm bills usually last 5-7 years, and the next one would probably be passed in 2007, meaning that failure to reach a deal on free trade in Hong Kong would likely see U.S. farm subsidies extended at least to 2012, Johanns said.
"If we don't have a WTO agreement I believe there will be a temptation to pass much the same bill (as the current one)," he said. "Congress is very reluctant to change farm bills after they've been put in place."
"STAY AT THE TABLE"
Johanns urged African countries to work with Washington's negotiators to ensure a deal at the Hong Kong talks, which will bring together ministers from all 148 WTO member states.
The WTO's Doha round, due to be completed by the end of 2006, virtually collapsed after talks in Mexico in 2003 failed to reach a deal on subsidies with poor countries refusing to accept concessions they said would damage their economies.
"All AGOA countries and all others need to work cooperatively, to show resolve to stay at the table until we get a good WTO agreement," Johanns said.
"The developing countries and the developed countries in our world need a successful WTO round."
Johanns said a U.S. proposal to end cotton export subsidies was proof of Washington's commitment to end subsidies blamed by some for keeping African farmers in poverty.
Washington has missed a July 1 WTO deadline to end cotton export subsidies, but President Bush has asked Congress to eliminate subsidies as part of budget legislation to be considered in September.
The United States is the world's top cotton exporter, and growers in poor West African states say they can not compete with subsidized U.S. exports.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to close the three-day meeting in Senegal to show top-level commitment to boosting the AGOA program, designed to help African nations trade their way out of poverty.
I often do we hear that we would like to see third world countries become self supporting? How is our subsidies helping Africa? Sounds to me like we are trying to make Africa dependent on us.
I guess so we won't be feeling sorry for Africans and sending them food because we'll be starving to death too.
I know a lot of folks think those farm subsidies are terrible.
Here's a thought for you, if you think that is true. Think of the oil supply when you think of the foods supply. I know I can't wait...
Loaves of bread at five dollars each sounds wonderful.
We'll start importing all our food stuffs. And then we'll be over a barrel not only for oil, but for food too. Can't wait.
First sugar, then cotton. Any industry that makes America strong is in the cross-hairs.
It's all about that "level playing field" Clinton and Bush dreams of...
Ambassador Marquardt: "Trade is Africa's Greatest Hope for Prosperity"
Op-Ed - April 16, 2005
Excerpt:
"This would help farmers in Africa compete on a level playing field."
"Elimination of cotton subsidies in the world market could be expected to allow the global price of cotton to rise by two or three percent. The would help cotton producers such as Cameroon, but the market share of African cotton producers is also significantly affected by inefficiencies and quality control problems. The USG is working with some African cotton producers to improve their production, and looks forward to working with Cameroon on improving its cotton production as well."
http://usembassy.state.gov/yaounde/wwwhamb_oped.html
"The United States is the world's top cotton exporter, and growers in poor West African states say they can not compete with subsidized U.S. exports."
Grow food then, instead of cotton....fight starvation.
Hedgie is right on. This from the US Ambassador to Cameroon Niels Marquardt:
"We cannot, however, liberalize trade or boost farm incomes by focusing only on one product or one sector. A global solution demands a global commitment."
Is the USG working for America anymore?
Its clearly unconstitutional for a trade representative to negotiate away an economic sector as leverage for Africa to sign a trade agreement. Where are the people who are supposed to be represented by this government, the farmers and other citizens?
Another quote from today's news...
"By 2025, economists project that any nation will only produce about 20 percent of what it consumes, and the rest will be imported from somewhere else. The potential for Tucson is obvious, but we need to ask how are we going to be connected to that international supply chain?" Garcia said.
--Augustine Garcia, director of the Tucson-Mexico Trade Office.
http://www.azbiz.com/articles/2005/08/08/news/news03.txt
Why do they still call it "free trade"?
The globalists have all ready run the numbers. I guess we'll have to change the name of Independence Day, to multilateral global trade integration day.
"By 2025, economists project that any nation will only produce about 20 percent of what it consumes, and the rest will be imported from somewhere else."
--Augustine Garcia, director of the Tucson-Mexico Trade Office
Do you ever read the labels on your food? We have a small family owned grocery in my town. All the produce is as local as is available. If the grapes are from Chile, until ours are ripe, they clearly mark it. Same with the meat.
I go there even if it is a bit more. Next will be a little farm with cattle, I guess. With a "little house"...
Kind of like the word "freedom". Not everything is free and getting more so all the time.
Worth repeating.
If it was only "supply and demand" and making the right business decisions but you're dealing with mother nature, the bugs that can suck the life out of a crop that took $800 an acre just to plant, the 60 mph wind sustained for 4 hours, the unexpected late frost in the spring or early frost in the fall. The hail, the lack of rain, too much rain.
Can you tell I'm disgusted with the state of farming? Politics and reality. We're seriously thinking about selling out, either to developers or to the city or county which are buying up every water right they can get their hands on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.