United States agricultural and trade policies have huge impacts on
world markets. Indeed, as a leading agricultural exporter, American
actions set the tone for much of international food policy. The
United States has done much good in this role; for example, it helped
lead agriculture toward more open markets in the Uruguay Round
negotiations (1986-93). But the centerpiece of current U.S.
agricultural policy, the 2002 Farm Bill, is an outright disaster in
four acts. First, it upends U.S. commitments in the World Trade
Organization (WTO) to more open agricultural trade, from which U.S.
farmers would be the largest beneficiaries. The failure of the latest
Doha Round negotiations to make any real progress is testimony to the
fact. Second, it sends exactly the wrong message to our trading
partners in Europe and the developing countries. Third, less
obviously but not less importantly, it undermines the long-term
competitiveness of U.S. agriculture itself. Fourth, it is contrary to
conserving American agricultural resources and the sustainability of
U.S. agricultural production systems.
On all four fronts, recent U.S. actions represent backsliding toward
protectionist policies that will materially harm U.S. trading
partners, especially developing countries, as well as U.S. farmers
themselves. How could such a disaster have happened?
Paying the Bill
