Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mini-ministerial day two


There's not a lot of major news coming out of Geneva after two days of trade talks. This is not uncommon for these sorts of negotiations, though: Bridges notes that Monday's discussions were little more than political positioning and grandstanding. The real wheeling and dealing will likely come towards the end of the week.

However, the FT reports that the United States offered on Tuesday to lower its farm subsidy ceiling to $15 billion/year, with some conditions attached. This is still comfortably higher than what the US actually spends on farm subsidies each year, which is about half that. Developing countries say the move is not enough. The US retorts that the offer is a genuine concession. We'll keep you posted on how things shake out as more information becomes available.

Side note: as these talks are ongoing, I am currently very busy writing a dissertation for my Master's Degree about the WTO. Ironically, if the talks fail, my dissertation topic will become extremely relevant, timely, and a good deal more interesting than it is presently. I stand by what I wrote yesterday, though - let's hope a deal gets done.

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