MOFB’s Cut to the Chase: Trade talks need to be about trade, not preventing it

Following the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round of negotiations, a common sentiment was "No deal is better than a bad deal." While the collapse was disappointing to those seeking comprehensive and meaningful trade reform, the positions of numerous countries degraded to the point where walking away was much wiser than conceding to their protectionist sentiments.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation’s largest general farm organization, historically supports opening markets – including our own. We strongly backed the administration in these negotiations and regularly expressed a willingness to lower our farm program supports commensurate with increased market access reform by other nations.

Over the last several years, these WTO talks have become more about protectionism than about opening markets and freeing up trade. From the outset, developing countries were allowed to reduce their tariffs by substantially smaller percentages than developed economies. Yet numerous studies by the International Monetary Fund and others show countries liberalizing trade have a higher level of economic growth than those remaining closed.

At the beginning, these talks were based on the premise that underdeveloped countries would be allowed to protect a limited number of their products from tariff reductions. While World Bank studies indicate allowing more than 4 percent of tariff lines to be exempt from cuts would wipe out three-quarters of the gains from trade, negotiations authorized developing countries’ tariff line allowances to be 12 percent, virtually gutting any significant trade improvement. It was painfully evident that the prize of meaningful trade reform had vanished.

So where can we go from here? Simply picking up where the talks left off is a recipe for failure. The next time we take up trade negotiations, all parties need to start with the fundamental premise that the goal of negotiators is to increase opportunities for trade – not for protectionism.

The American Farm Bureau Federation is a strong proponent of providing any sitting president with trade negotiating authority. We are willing to discuss reductions in domestic support when we have a balanced reduction in market tariffs. We must make the starting point for the next set of talks about trade. History proves development will take care of itself.

(Bob Stallman, a rice and cattle producer from Columbus, Texas, is president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.)