Commodity groups disenhanted with Bush negotiators' Doha approach

Major commodity groups – among them, the National Cotton Council and USA Rice Federation – sent President Bush a strongly worded letter today expressing concerns about the status of Doha round negotiations. The groups cautioned that the U.S. offer to reduce trade-distorting domestic supports always has been presented as contingent on achieving the U.S. objective of increasing market access and reductions in other trade-distorting practices conducted by U.S. trading partners.

The groups basically believe that U.S. trade negotiators are caving in on market access.

A release from the NCC included the following points:

• The US offer on domestic supports always has been contingent on achieving commensurate market access.
• The US offer on domestic supports represents the most the groups could support and that support is contingent on achieving the market access objectives in the U.S. offer.
• Treatment of "sensitive" products for developed countries and "special" products for developing countries must be limited so as not to erode market access gains made through tariff reductions.
• Newly acceded countries must actively participate in the negotiations and offer improved market access.
• If any agreement falls short of U.S. objectives on market access, the U.S. offer on domestic supports must be scaled back "commensurate with this diminished market access result."
  

See the letter at http://www.cotton.org/issues/2006/doha.cfm.

Click here for the USA Rice Federation’s release.