Market access
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay introduced a new negotiating submission arguing in favour of expanded access to agricultural markets (JOB/AG/255). The new proposal sets out a framework with specific modalities to address holistically tariff simplification, tariff peaks, tariff escalation, and tariff rate quotas. The proponents also called for the elimination of special agricultural safeguards, which 39 WTO members are currently entitled to use.
While some negotiators welcomed the submission, others said that WTO members should prioritise cutting trade-distorting domestic support before taking steps to expand market access. Some others said that it was unrealistic to expect progress on this topic to be achieved in the short time remaining before the WTO’s upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in February 2024. Many trade officials also said they needed more time to review the new submission and discuss it with their colleagues in capital.
Cotton
Four West African cotton-producing countries — the “Cotton-4” or C-4 — and Côte d’Ivoire presented a draft ministerial decision on cotton (TN/AG/SCC/GEN/25). The proposal focuses on cutting trade-distorting support for cotton which exceeds the “de minimis” threshold — defined as a percentage of the value of production and set at different levels for developed and developing economies. The proposal also reaffirms the central role of the WTO Director-General’s Consultative Mechanism on Cotton to promote an inclusive partnership and coordinate cotton development assistance interventions supporting the development of cotton value chains in least developed countries (LDCs).
Other members welcomed the submission. The Cairns Group agricultural exporting countries emphasized the similarities between its own approach on domestic support that also addressed cotton and the C-4 proposal. It called for joint work to reconcile the two approaches. Other members considered that the best forward would be to phase out progressively the trade-distorting support beyond the de-minimis level. One member called for more studies to better assess the impact of different forms of support on cotton production. Finally, some members expressed the view that cotton should be addressed as part of a comprehensive outcome. Some members noted that efforts could also be pursued to improve market access for cotton. The need to support the development of local cotton value chains in LDCs was supported by several members.
Domestic support
The Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries presented its submission (JOB/AG/243/Rev.1) outlining a negotiation framework for domestic support reform and proposing a 50% cut (or another percentage to be agreed upon) in the global level of WTO members’ “entitlements” to support agriculture by the end of 2034.
The formula for reducing support includes flexibilities for LDCs as well as a Domestic Support Trigger Mechanism (similar to a safeguard) that would allow for tariffs to be increased in the event of a surge in the import of subsidized farm goods.
India also made a presentation emphasizing the need for WTO members to update the “fixed external reference prices” (FERPs), which are used to calculate market price support levels under current domestic support rules. Most WTO members have agreed to use a 1986-88 base period to calculate support levels, meaning that subsequent price inflation has eroded their ability to provide this type of trade-distorting support without breaching the limits set by the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.
While some members contended that the historical base period for the fixed external reference price was intentionally designed to reduce trade-distorting domestic support over time, others said they were open to discussing the issue so long as it was part of the broader conversation on reducing overall levels of trade-distorting support.
Food stocks bought at government-set prices
On 20 November, the Chair facilitated a discussion on the procurement of food at government-set prices as part of developing economies’ public stockholding programmes for food security purposes. WTO members have agreed to pursue a “permanent solution” to the challenges some developing economies face under WTO rules when buying food at minimum prices through these programmes.
Canada and Thailand together presented the Cairns Group’s new submission, JOB/AG/243/Rev.1, at the session. They said the submission could provide a solution to the issue of public stockholding as part of a comprehensive approach to domestic support reform through additional flexibility for product-specific support (subject to members’ participation in global import or exports of the product in question). While some WTO members welcomed this approach, others said that the specific problem of public stockholding should have been fast-tracked, and that a stand-alone solution in this area should be treated as a priority.
Export restrictions on food
The Chair invited members to provide feedback on proposals related to export restrictions on food that had been tabled by Japan (JOB/AG/250), the United Kingdom (JOB/AG/251) and LDCs (JOB/AG/252).
Several negotiators welcomed the initiative and provided substantive comments on the proposals. Some members accepted to engage while making clear that talks on this topic should not distract attention from other questions such as domestic support to the farm sector, agricultural market access and public food stockholding.
Some members, mostly developing economies, stressed that export restrictions are a useful policy tool to address domestic food insecurity, that the effects of export restrictions on global food security should be considered in a broader context, and that existing WTO rules are sufficient. Members were also divided on whether both LDCs and Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs) should be exempted when other economies impose export restrictions on food, with some arguing that some NFIDCs are also significant food exporters.
Next meetings
“Time is running out fast,” the Chair told the meeting. ”The moment is soon approaching when we will have to focus more specifically and concretely on the possible outcome for MC13,” he said. The Chair also emphasized that a mini-ministerial meeting on agriculture scheduled for 28 November would discuss how to move the discussions forward in the agriculture negotiations.
The Chair told negotiators that he remains available to meet with them on request. He plans to convene the next cluster of agriculture negotiating meetings in early December, with the exact dates still to be confirmed.
More
The WTO’s agriculture negotiations encompass various topics, including domestic support, market access, export competition, export restrictions, cotton, public stockholding for food security purposes, the special safeguard mechanism and the cross-cutting issue of transparency.
More on the WTO agriculture negotiations: WTO | Agriculture — negotiations
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