Increasing agricultural subsidies in the United States: too selfish

Introduction: Xinhua Beijing, May 29 (Li Changsheng) on May 13, President Bush of the United States signed a new agricultural product subsidy bill, deciding that in the next 10 years, the United States will provide up to $190 billion in agricultural subsidies, an increase of nearly 80% over the current allocation of agricultural law During the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in November last year, the United States promised to gradually reduce agricultural subsidies, and the European Union also made concessions The new round of Global trade negotiations shows the dawn that can be launched But just six months later, the United States decided to increase agricultural subsidies The selfishness of the United States caused strong dissatisfaction among WTO members In doing so, the United States will "suffer a serious blow" to its credibility in a new round of Global trade, said Canadian Agriculture Minister Robert van Clive The Paraguayan government believes that the new agricultural law of the United States runs counter to the purposes of the WTO, which is "a great retrogression", and calls on the United States government to amend the new law The United States is the world's largest economic power, with its industrial structure and core competitiveness in an advantageous position According to the statistics of the world bank, the GDP of the United States in 1999 was 8708.87 billion US dollars, accounting for 28.8% of the world's GDP of p3021.19 billion US dollars In the GDP structure of the United States, agricultural output accounts for 2%, industrial output accounts for 26% (manufacturing output accounts for 18%), and service output accounts for 72% The proportion of agricultural labor force in the total number of American employees has decreased from 37% in 1900 to less than 2.6% at present However, the agricultural products not only meet the domestic demand, but also the United States is still the world's largest exporter of agricultural products Last year, U.S agricultural exports reached 53.5 billion US dollars, more than seven times that of 1970, accounting for 25% of total U.S agricultural sales The world market share of wheat, soybean and corn in the United States is as high as 45%, 34% and 21% respectively Since 1985, the American government has carried out the reform of "free market agriculture" During the Uruguay round of trade negotiations, the debate about agricultural subsidies between the United States and European powers was very fierce It was not until 1993 that the United States and Europe reached a compromise on agricultural subsidies and trade in agricultural products Since the implementation of the current agricultural act in 1996, the government has reduced subsidies so that farmers can choose their own varieties of agricultural products But by 1998, farmers' free production had left some food surplus, causing prices to fall The U.S government also implements "emergency subsidy" and "temporary price support" policies In fact, the major developed countries have not stopped agricultural subsidies The United States and Europe alone provide us $360 billion in agricultural subsidies every year World Bank President Wolfensohn pointed out that rich countries' subsidies to agriculture are almost equal to the total GDP of sub Saharan Africa, seven times the foreign aid budget of rich countries During the Doha Conference in November last year, after bargaining, the EU gave up its original position of refusing to agree to negotiate on reducing and gradually eliminating agricultural subsidies The ministers adopted a statement calling for Global trade negotiations to focus on "phasing out" export subsidies for agricultural products It is in this context that the president of the United States has signed a new agricultural bill that substantially increases subsidies "It's for the American countryside, not for the Mexican Countryside, not for the Canadian countryside, not for the European countryside," said conBest, chairman of the House Committee The United States has been strongly opposed by the international community and other countries to increase agricultural subsidies EU officials pointed out that the United States' huge subsidies to agriculture will seriously disrupt the world agricultural production order During the Doha Conference, the developed countries promised not to formulate measures affecting agricultural production and trade, but now the United States is in the opposite direction of its commitment The European Union believes that the United States' large-scale subsidies to agriculture will lead to agricultural overproduction and lower prices of agricultural products, thus keeping the imported agricultural products out of the country EU trade officials also believe the new U.S farm bill will make it more difficult to persuade farmers in countries such as France not to resist the elimination of subsidies The increase of agricultural subsidies in the United States will cause rich countries to take the same measures, and the developing countries will suffer the most According to the United States International Herald Tribune (14 March 2002), "nearly one-third of the export income of 50 developing countries depends on the export of agricultural products, and more than 50% of the export income of 40 developing countries depends on the export of agricultural products." A report by the world bank and the International Monetary Fund pointed out that if the world's cotton does not decline due to subsidies, the poverty population of Burkina Faso, an African country, will be reduced by half in six years Subsidies account for about a third of the $35000 annual income of cotton farmers in the United States, the report said A senior World Bank official pointed out that the increase of agricultural subsidies in the United States will benefit some farmers in the United States, but a large number of poor people in developing countries will suffer losses MERCOSUR, one of the world's major food producers, strongly condemned the U.S bill to increase agricultural subsidies Argentina, the rotating chairman of MERCOSUR, is considering suing the United States for increasing agricultural subsidies at the world trade organization At present, Africa's agricultural trade accounts for only 2% of the world's agricultural trade President Museveni of Uganda called on the United States to eliminate subsidies for agricultural products.