Trade Promises to Be Big Issue for Ag in 2000

January 3, 2000

Trade promises to dominate the agricultural agenda in 2000, says the American Farm Bureau Federation. However, in a report from Tokyo, KYODO NEW SERVICE says an early launch of a new trade round this year may not be easy.

AFBF official Alex Jackson notes that 95% or more of the world's population is outside U.S. borders, "and they are all customers" of U.S. farm products. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) has said not only are trade agreements important to secure free and fair trade, but "the process by which trade disputes are settled and implemented are also important."

U.S. agriculture "gains nothing if an agreement is negotiated and other countries break the rules of that agreement," Combest adds.

Jackson also notes that China is a market U.S. farmers hope will be more accessible. "If we look at some of the conservative government estimates about the near future, by 2005 China could account for over one-third of all our exports," he says.

Japan will increase efforts for an early launch of a new round of trade talks under the World Trade Organization, but getting a round underway this year may be difficult. If not launched soon, the KYODO article points out, Japan will be at a disadvantage in agriculture and services, areas in which talks begin this month.

International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya is expected to leave around Jan. 7 to meet with European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy to boost the new round. He also is to visit Geneva for talks with WTO Director General Mike Moore and likely will propose a reform initiative to increase the transparency of key WTO decisions.

A Japanese official was quoted in the article saying WTO members want to start a new round as early as possible, but nothing has been decided on when or how a launch is possible.