WTO farm talks seek fresh thinking without losing everything

PREVIOUS STORIES
Seven talking points after the WTO’s 2024 Ministerial Conference
Chair’s draft pushes WTO farm talks deadlines back to next conference
‘Mission impossible’ and ‘mission essential’ collide in WTO farm talks
See also all stories on this topic (tagged “agriculture negotiations”)

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
APRIL 21, 2024 | UPDATED APRIL 21, 2024

Negotiators in the World Trade Organization’s farm talks broadly agree that a new approach is needed to revive the talks after they failed completely at the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Conference, but they differ on whether to tackle the entire subject or focus on priority areas.

On the table in the April 16, 2024 meeting was a proposal from Brazil for a decision by the General Council in July. This would effectively turn the scrapped draft from Abu Dhabi into a postponed decision, while removing the no longer available option of agreeing on over-the-limit subsidies in food stockpiling (“PSH”) at the Ministerial Conference.

The WTO’s General Council has the power to take decisions on behalf of its Ministerial Conferences.

In a separate process, WTO members also agreed on a non-binding document on food security, including export restrictions, also a binned agricultural text in Abu Dhabi.

What next? Seven talking points after the WTO’s 2024 Ministerial Conference

SEE ALSO
Scoring the results in the WTO director-general’s ‘half-full’ glass

BEFORE THE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Overview: Cynics circle as another conference heads for small pickings
The issues: Definitely. Maybe. Unlikely. Who knows? Issues on the agenda

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By Peter Ungphakorn and Robert Wolfe
POSTED MARCH 13, 2024 | UPDATED MARCH 20, 2024

We’ve deliberately taken our time. The World Trade Organization’s 2024 Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi ended almost two weeks ago, after deadlock forced it to be extended by over a day, into the early hours of March 2.

Before the conference we had warned against expecting too much. We had argued that what was going to be essential was to preserve the system. Most issues were not ripe, and the geopolitical situation meant political energy was elsewhere.

Not to cause any harm seemed to be enough to say “job done”.

Some have criticised us for being too complacent, for being satisfied with the status quo. Far from it. We were simply recognising reality.

Quite a lot has been written and said about the conference, its minor successes and the major failures to meet expectations. Here are some talking points that stand out for us. It’s time to look ahead.

Cynics circle as another WTO Ministerial Conference heads for small pickings

SEE ALSO
The issues: Definitely. Maybe. Unlikely. Who knows? Issues on the WTO conference agenda

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By Peter Ungphakorn and Robert Wolfe
POSTED FEBRUARY 21, 2024 | UPDATED FEBRUARY 27, 2024

The cynics are circling the World Trade Organization’s upcoming Ministerial Conference with doom-laden prophecies that the “WTO” is likely to fail, again.

The cans that were kicked down the road in Geneva in 2022 are now supposed to produce content in Abu Dhabi in 2024. The prospects of that are sobering.

But the WTO is not just its Ministerial Conferences, and the purpose of these conferences is not merely concluding new agreements. Given the challenging circumstances, system preservation may be the most important outcome.

Chair’s draft pushes WTO farm talks deadlines back to next conference

PREVIOUS STORY
‘Mission impossible’ and ‘mission essential’ collide in WTO farm talks

SEE ALSO
WTO ministers’ meeting — no interaction, no movement, just speeches
Texts: state of play in WTO farm talks and the crisis-meeting invitation
and all stories on this topic (tagged “food stockholding”)

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UPDATE: The draft prepared for the February 26–29, 2024 Ministerial Conference was circulated on February 16. It still pushed the deadlines back to the next conference, but with options throughout: members “shall” agree by then or they “agree to work towards” the target.

The deadlock remained over whether price support in food security stockpiling (PSH) should be a stand-alone decision at this conference or resolved with all the other topics by the next one.

See the full update below

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
FEBRUARY 5, 2024 | UPDATED FEBRUARY 18, 2024

World Trade Organization agriculture negotiators are spending the first two weeks of February scrutinising a draft text for the WTO’s upcoming Ministerial Conference.

In a meeting on January 30, 2024 they accepted the draft as the document to work on for the February 26–29 conference in Abu Dhabi — the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference, called “MC13” by insiders.

It was prepared by the talks’ chair, Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye.

The 5-page draft is detailed, but for most issues it postpones any resolution until the Ministerial Conference after Abu Dhabi — “MC14” — normally within two years.

However, one issue still threatens to sink the whole effort. This is about finding a long-term solution for the present short term fix for over-the-limit subsidies used to buy into food security stocks (explained here).

Members disagree on whether this should be a single-issue decision or part of a package covering the whole of domestic support. (More below.)

A WTO website news story summarises its content in detail.

‘Mission impossible’ and ‘mission essential’ collide in WTO farm talks

SEE ALSO
WTO ministers’ meeting — no interaction, no movement, just speeches
Texts: state of play in WTO farm talks and the crisis-meeting invitation
and all stories on this topic (tagged “food stockholding”)

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
JANUARY 17, 2024 | UPDATED JANUARY 18, 2024

The US, EU and the majority of the Cairns Group told fellow agriculture negotiators at the World Trade Organization yesterday (January 16) that a stand-alone decision on relaxing rules on food security stocks procured with higher than permitted subsidies will not be possible at next month’s WTO Ministerial Conference.

The writing had been on the wall for some time. In this meeting, according to sources, the US seems to have taken the lead, in declaring that deep divisions among members cannot be resolved and therefore a consensus decision at the Abu Dhabi conference will be impossible.

The US reaction is said to have come after India sought to “refresh members’ memory” by recalling mandates from previous years.

The purpose for India and its allies would be to find a permanent solution to replace the present temporary fix for when developing countries exceed their domestic support entitlements through purchases into food security stocks at subsidised prices.

WTO ministers’ meeting — no interaction, no movement, just speeches

SEE ALSO
Ministers preparing for WTO crisis meeting told they need to compromise and
Texts: state of play in WTO farm talks and the crisis-meeting invitation

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
DECEMBER 1, 2023 | UPDATED DECEMBER 5, 2023

The supposed “crisis” meeting of about 25 World Trade Organization ministers on November 28, 2023 showed no sign of breaking the deadlock in the WTO agriculture negotiations.

With barely two working months to go members now face the real risk of no outcome at all on agriculture at the February 2024 Ministerial Conference.

According to sources, the three-hour online meeting consisted only of a series of prepared statements echoing what delegations have been saying in the negotiations. No minister made any attempt even to edge towards compromise, even though they had been urged to do so before the meeting.

Nor did the chair attempt to encourage a dialogue, or to explore possible compromises. The presiding minister was UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, who will chair the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Conference.

Ministers preparing for WTO crisis meeting told they need to compromise

SEE ALSO
Texts: state of play in WTO farm talks and the crisis-meeting invitation

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
NOVEMBER 24, 2023 | UPDATED NOVEMBER 24, 2023

About 24 World Trade Organization ministers have been told that that it is important for them to break the stalemate in agriculture negotiations when they hold crisis talks online on November 28, 2023.

This is because virtually all WTO members consider the talks to be an increasing priority as they grapple with climate change, food insecurity and other challenges, a WTO Secretariat document sent to the ministers says.

The document, which accompanies the invitation to the meeting, urges them to search actively for compromise. The full texts of both are here.

India in silent protest over Cairns Group subsidy proposal in WTO farm talks

SEE ALSO
Text: the Cairns Group’s 2023 proposal on agricultural domestic support
with notes and explanations

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UPDATE: The story below is mainly about the session on subsidised procurement for food security stocks. The meeting continued to November 22 and included a presentation by India, in a session on domestic support more generally, calling for “fixed external reference prices” to be updated. They are used to calculate trade-distorting domestic support, and are currently for 1986–88 (explained here). Reactions were mixed according to this WTO website news story.

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
NOVEMBER 22, 2023 | UPDATED NOVEMBER 29, 2023

World Trade Organization (WTO) agriculture negotiations were plunged deeper into deadlock this week (November 20 and 21, 2023) when India refused even to discuss a Cairns Group proposal to cut trade-distorting domestic support.

In an attempt to rescue the talks in time for the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, February 26–29, 2024, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has called an urgent on-line meeting of ministers from some key players on November 28.

Cairns Group circulates ambitious WTO plan for reforming farm support

SEE ALSO
The Cairns Group’s Analysis of Trends in Green Box Support (December 21, 2023)
Text: the Cairns Group’s 2023 proposal on agricultural domestic support
with notes and explanations

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Posted by Peter Ungphakorn
NOVEMBER 4, 2023 | UPDATED JANUARY 17, 2024

The Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries has circulated a detailed proposal to slash trade-distorting farm support in World Trade Organization members, halving the total global entitlement to subsidise, and to resolve the deadlock over food security stocks procured through subsidy.

The proposal circulated on November 2, 2023, is drafted as a decision for the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, February 26–29, 2024. It is extremely ambitious and is unlikely to receive consensus support by February. Whether agreement on it can be reached at all, even after negotiated changes, remains to be seen.

(A revision was circulated on January 12, 2024, adding Ukraine as a new sponsor)

Its focus is on lowering the ceilings (reducing the “entitlements”) for each WTO member. This will impact countries whose present domestic support for agriculture is close to their limits but not those who have already cut their actual subsidies to much lower levels.

India ramps up rhetoric on farm support before major WTO meeting

See also
the previous meeting, an explanation of the issue
and the WTO website’s news story on the whole meeting
Agriculture negotiators discuss new proposals submitted by WTO members

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By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED OCTOBER 21, 2023 | UPDATED NOVEMBER 4, 2023

India has accused its critics in the World Trade Organization (WTO) of “arrogance” and contempt in opposing its position on developing countries using subsidies to purchase rice and other produce into food security stocks.

In a meeting of the WTO’s agriculture negotiations on October 19, 2023, India said, “gone are the days when we were the discipline taker and we had no knowledge and wisdom to talk about a subject that concerns us,” according to a trade official in Geneva.

India’s heightened rhetoric came four days before senior officials from capitals were due to meet in Geneva on October 23–24. The officials will attempt to develop meaningful outcomes for the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, February 2024, including on agriculture and food security.

India said that unless its critics change their “mindset”, they will prevent an agreement being reached at the Ministerial Conference.

As in the previous meeting on October 2, this session of the agriculture negotiations focused mainly on the use of government-supported prices to buy into food security stocks.

The issue is nicknamed “public stockholding” (PSH). But the name is misleading because WTO rules do not prevent stockholding. They only discipline subsidised procurement. Even that is allowed, so long as the developing country stays within its subsidy limit, usually 10% of the value of production.