Observers say the recent World Trade Organisation talks collapsed in Cancun, Mexico, recently because of the reluctance of developed countries to reduce subsidies for domestic agriculture production and lower tariffs against competing imports.
A good illustration of the level such subsidies can reach is beet sugar, which is supported by enormous subsidies as a part of the European Union’s $50 billion-a-year Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Sugar subsidies, which were not eliminated or reduced during recent CAP reforms, hurt developing nations for whom sugar is the most profitable crop to grow, as a New York Times editorial points out:
Source: Editorial Napoleon’s Bittersweet Legacy, New York Times, August 11, 2003.
For text http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/opinion/11MON1.html
For more on Free Trade http://www.ncpa.org/iss/int/
FMF Policy Bulletin\23 September 2003
