AGRICULTURE REPORT
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August 13, 2002: American Trade Proposal
This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.
The United States has proposed a plan to reform international trade rules for farm
products. The United States is proposing to cut government assistance to American
farmers. In exchange, it wants other countries to make deep cuts in their agricultural
spending.
The proposal comes two months after President Bush signed a major farm bill. The
new law increases government aid for farmers. It is estimated to cost one-hundredninety-
thousand-million dollars over the next ten years. Critics say the measure
forces down world crop prices and reduces the money earned by farmers in developing countries.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman described the new proposal last month at a meeting of agriculture ministers
in Nara, Japan. The ministers were from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia and Japan.
She said the proposal would end all government assistance for farm exports over five years. The United States
also urged other countries to cut taxes on food and agricultural imports. Mizz Veneman said the world average
for such taxes is sixty -two percent. She said the proposal would reduce the tax rate to fifteen percent. It also
would result in no tax higher than twenty -five percent. Currently, the average American tax on imported farm
products is twelve percent.
The proposal also would limit government aid for farmers to five percent of the value of a country’s agricultural
production. The United States currently spends nineteen-thousand-million dollars each year on such farm aid
programs. The proposal would reduce the amount to ten-thousand-million dollars.
For the European Union, the decrease in farm aid would be even greater. It would drop from more than sixty thousand-
million dollars to twelve-thousand-million dollars a year. In Japan, the amount would drop from thirty-
three-thousand-million dollars to four-thousand-million dollars a year.
E-U and Japanese officials have criticized the American proposal. They say it requires a great deal more effort
from other countries than from the United States. However, the top farm officials from Australia and Canada
expressed general support for the American position. American farm groups also expressed support for the
proposal.
This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.
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