IDFA Praises WTO Proposal

July 3

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) says U.S. Trade Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman offered a "serious and comprehensive" negotiating proposal last week in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) special negotiating committee on agriculture. The meeting in Geneva is the first scheduled session for WTO countries to offer substantive proposals on what should be negotiated in the agricultural talks, since the effort to launch a wider ranging trade round failed in Seattle last December.

The U.S. proposal identifies specific trade-liberalizing objectives such as substantial reductions in all agricultural tariffs, elimination of agricultural export subsidies, and more uniformity in disciplines on domestic support, according to IDFA.

Janet Nuzum, IDFA vice president and general counsel said, "The U.S. negotiating proposal demonstrates the United States' strong commitment to agricultural trade liberalization, and to playing a leadership role in these talks. This proposal goes beyond rhetoric and identifies specific ways to make further, meaningful progress on agricultural trade liberalization. It is a comprehensive approach that should stimulate serious discussion by all countries that have a genuine interest in reform."

Nuzum serves as a private sector advisor to Barshefsky and Glickman on the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee and regularly has been provided advice to the administration on trade negotiating objectives.

"The U.S. proposal is completely consistent with the objectives urged by IDFA and the many other organizations in the U.S. agricultural and food community that are seriously committed to more open markets and expanded trade," Nuzum said.