Sorting out WTO disputes with India helped our farmers, USTR tells Senate
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai has highlighted sorting out WTO disputes with India as a win for agriculture and rural communities, in her testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on President Joe Biden’s 2024 Trade Policy Agenda, where some concerns were raised on India’s wheat subsidies allegedly hurting American farmers.
“Last June, India and the U.S. terminated six WTO disputes, and India agreed to remove retaliatory taris on several U.S. products. This means improved access for chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts and apples beneting farmers across the country, including in Michigan, Oregon and Washington,” Ms. Tai said in her written testimony to the Senate Committee on Wednesday.
Additionally, in September, India and the U.S. resolved their nal outstanding WTO dispute, and India agreed to reduce taris on several U.S. products, the USTR added.
“This means more market access for turkey, duck, blueberries and cranberries beneting farmers in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin,” she said.
Trade resolutions
The WTO disputes settled between India and the U.S. include India’s appeal against the U.S.’ imposition of taris on imports of steel and aluminium products from India; the U.S.’ appeal against India’s retaliatory taris; India’s renewable energy subsidies for solar cells and modules under Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission; India’s appeal over similar subsidies for solar cells and solar modules by eight U.S. State governments; U.S.’ appeal against India’s export subsidy programmes; India’s imposition of countervailing duties on imports of certain hot-rolled carbon steel at products from the U.S.
The last dispute between the two, settled in September 2023, was on poultry import from Washington, as part of which India agreed to cut import duties on some farm items.
In his remarks at the hearing, Senator Ron Wyden, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, alleged that India’s wheat subsidies were distorting prices and directly hurting American farmers.
“Without trade enforcement, our trade laws aren’t worth the paper they are written on… India’s wheat subsidies are distorting prices and making it harder for Oregon’s farmers to compete in the Asian market,” Mr. Wyden said.
Mr. Wyden also mentioned Mexico’s “illegal shing practices” and China’s “rap sheet of unfair subsidies and trade practices”, adding these “unfair trading practices” were hurting workers in America. In discussions around its wheat subsidies under the MSP programme at the WTO, India has been maintaining its subsidies were well within the range prescribed by the WTO, and its food security programmes were necessary to support vulnerable farmers and feed the poor.
Giving her account of how the settlement of WTO disputes with India had helped U.S. farmers, the USTR gave an example of a family growing almonds in the Central Valley of California visited by her team.
“This family was impacted by India’s retaliatory taris imposed in 2019, limiting their access to a vital market for their operation. We removed those taris and provided more economic certainty for this family and many others.”
The U.S. was India’s largest trading partner in 2022-23, with bilateral trade rising 7.65% to $128.55 billion.
(The writer is with The Hindu businessline)