International disciplines on agricultural domestic support have been in place since 1995 and negotiations over possible new commitments have been central to the unresolved WTO Doha Round. The influence of the existing disciplines and effects of potential new ones are difficult to assess because of the intense domestic political economy of agricultural policies, the complexity of the rules themselves, overlap between domestic and border measures, distinctions between the legal interpretation of disciplines and assessment of the economic effects of policy changes, and unknown future market conditions and policy choices.

This seminar addresses these issues for the EU, US and Japan. Notified support and its relation to past and anticipate domestic policies is evaluated and the latitude under proposed Doha commitments is projected. The analysis elaborates the diverse policies of these countries and the ways they have met their WTO commitments, while differing in substantive aspects of their policy measures and support levels. This provides a basis for assessing the extent to which WTO domestic support disciplines have achieved their intended objective of reducing distortions in world agricultural markets and for framing recommendations to strengthen international rules.

Program

Moderator: Betina Dimaranan, Research Fellow, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI

EU and US: Are their Policies Convergent or Divergent?
David Orden, Senior Research Fellow, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI, and Professor, Virginia Tech

Japan’s Agricultural Policy: Challenges Facing the Current Government
Yoshihisa Godo, Professor of Economics, Meiji Gakuin University

Discussant:
Bob Young, Chief Economist, American Farm Bureau Federation