News is coming out that WTO negotiators may have reached an agreement on agricultural subsidies. This is not just a deal, it's a big deal, a huge deal, if they can pull it off.
WTO negotiators reached a breakthrough on the most contentious issue of the six-day talks, agreeing that wealthy countries would eliminate farm export subsidies by 2013, paving the way for a broader agreement to cut trade barriers across various sectors, according to a copy of the final draft agreement obtained by journalists.
The breakthrough, coming after all-night negotiations, appeared to save the World Trade Organization meeting from an embarrassing collapse provided the final draft is approved by all 149 member nations and territories who are meeting later Sunday.
The story says it has been the biggest issue in the six day talks. That's something of an understatement, as it has been the issue for some time.
Drezner says he's talked to some EU people who swear the Brazilians are pushing for a better timeline, and potentially threatening the deal, but I agree with him that they are just pushing. Getting Europe to set a date on eliminating agricultural subsidies is such a major event that it's doubtful the Brazilians would risk it for a minor shift.
Drezner has had excellent analysis of the talks, so dig into his archives for more, if you are interested.
Posted by binky at December 19, 2005 11:08 AM | TrackBack | Posted to EconomicsI'll note that the date of the supposed ending of ag subsidies is far in the future (2013), well past when any of the administrations that have signed onto this are likely to still be in power.
This isn't necessarily bad (it allows the present goverments to do the right thing - removing ag subsidies - while paying a minimal political price, and allows those future governments who are required to actually remove the ag subsidies to claim that they are bound by law to do so, and gives them political cover to actually do the heavy lifting of subsidy removal), but is sort of odd.
Posted by: baltar at December 19, 2005 12:09 PM | PERMALINKIt's not really that odd when taken in the context of international treaties and regimes. Many set targets for the future (Kyoto, Montreal) or dates by which certain numbers of signatories should be reached (FTAA) or dates by which certain actions will be taken (e.g. the China entry into the WTO specifies it continue to be treated as a non-market economy until a certain date).
Posted by: binky at December 19, 2005 12:12 PM | PERMALINK