Abstract
In October 2002, the United States presented a detailed negotiating proposal asking for reductions in domestic support and the total elimination of export subsidies over a five-year period. In the area of market access, the US proposed the use of the Swiss formula that harmonizes tariff levels through substantial tariff reductions, so that tariffs on agricultural products would not be higher than 25 per cent, tariff-rate quotas on agricultural imports for sensitive products would increase 20 per cent, and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SMM) would be phased out over a five-year period. The US position on domestic support suggested reducing the amber box to a limit of 5 per cent of each country’s total agricultural production and keeping the de minimis exemptions. It proposed blue box reductions over a three- (for developed countries) and five-year period (for developing countries) (US Department of Agriculture, 2002). But the US proposal made no reference to green box support (see Table 9.1). The more defensive position of the US regarding minimal amber box reduction can be explained with the, at that time, recent passing of the 2002 farm bill, which increased agricultural expenditure by extending direct payments and creating new countercyclical payments (Sumner, 2003b).
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© 2011 Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt
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da Conceição-Heldt, E. (2011). Cancun Ministerial Conference 2003. In: Negotiating Trade Liberalization at the WTO. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306998_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306998_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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