NCC joined 26 organizations in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in advance of the upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which focuses on the work of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to call for reforms.
The letter specifically focuses on urging U.S. officials to set the direction of the conference, starting with addressing the proposals from other WTO members regarding public stockholding – or the protectionist practice of nations holding commodities in storage to manage supply and demand – and the special safeguard mechanism, which would significantly weaken disciplines on domestic subsidies for WTO members.
“Adoption of either proposal would point the reform process in the wrong direction and doom future negotiations to failure,” the letter said.
“Rather than accepting efforts to undermine current obligations and existing concessions, we urge you to use MC12 to clean the negotiating slate and launch talks on agriculture post-MC12 that are balanced and comprehensive, including on market access, and that address the real issues affecting agricultural production and trade in today’s world,” the letter continued. “Only this type of negotiation can yield results that serve the interests of U.S. farmers and ranchers.”
The letter was also signed by the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Peanut Council, American Seed Trade Association, American Soybean Association, Corn Refiners Association, CropLife America, Idaho Potato Commission, International Dairy Foods Association, National Association of Egg Farmers, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cotton Council, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Milk Producers Federation, National Oilseed Processors Association, National Sorghum Producers, North American Meat Institute, Pet Food Institute, Sweetener Users Association, U.S. Apple Association, U.S. Dairy Export Council, U.S. Grains Council, U.S. Soybean Export Council, U.S. Wheat Associates, United Phosphorus Limited, and USA Rice.
The full letter can be found here.
