Complaints from Canada and Brazil against the United States’ domestic farm support programs are now under formal investigation by a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement body.
News services and stakeholders reported Monday that the WTO panel had officially launched its investigation into the multi-billion-dollar U.S. subsidy regime. Canada’s federal government announced in November that it would request a new WTO panel on what it called trade-distorting domestic agricultural subsidies.
“Canada believes that the United States has breached its international obligations by providing agricultural subsidies that exceed the levels allowed by the WTO” in six of the past eight years, said International Trade Minister David Emerson at the time.
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Specifically, Canada’s view is that when trade-distorting domestic support is properly accounted for under the WTO agreement on agriculture, the U.S. spent billions over its agreed-upon limit in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Officials in Washington have told reporters that the U.S. government is disappointed at the move by Canada and Brazil, and has argued that many of the supports specified in these challenges are now discontinued.
“This case represents an unnecessary diversion of time, resources and attention from the important tasks before us in the Doha negotiations,” Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab was quoted by Reuters as saying on Monday.
A ruling from the WTO panel is expected in the fall of 2008.
