Maudit protectionnisme agricole:
U.S. and European Reluctance to Cut Farm Subsidies Weighs on Trade Talks
With three months left before a crucial deadline in global talks to reduce trade barriers, top negotiators for the United States and the European Union were still far apart on Wednesday on reducing the elaborate protections for their own farmers. (...)
President Bush, addressing the United Nations on Wednesday, urged countries to push ahead and promised to end all American subsidies and tariffs if other nations did so as well.
"Today, I broaden the challenge by making this pledge," Mr. Bush said. "The United States is ready to eliminate tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to free flow of goods and services as other nations do the same."
But both American and European leaders are reluctant to give up their farm protections.
European leaders have agreed to eliminate all export subsidies for farm products, but they still have high tariff barriers and pay tens of billions of dollars a year in farm subsidies.
The United States has lower tariffs on most farm imports, but it retains high barriers for products like sugar and orange juice and it pays out billions of dollars in subsidies to producers of cotton, corn, beef and other commodities.
|