Do'h Doha

Doha World Trade Organizaion talks at risk of collapse as Brazil and India walk out–they claim over U.S. and E.U's tight grip on continuing agriculture subsidies:

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath…said talks derailed because the U.S. and the EU refused to improve their farm-aid offers. The numbers presented by the U.S. on domestic subsidies exceeded those demanded by the so-called G20 alliance of farm commodity- exporting nations while the EU's tariff-cut offers were insufficient, Amorim said.

……….
Nath said the U.S. offered to cap its overall spending on trade-distorting domestic support at $17 billion. As leaders of the G20, which also includes China and Argentina, India and Brazil are pushing for an annual U.S. spending limit of no more than $15 billion.

…….
The Bush administration now spends $10.8 billion a year on support payments that distort market prices to American farmers, Nath said. A ceiling of $17 billion would represent "a 50 percent increase," he told journalists.

Jesse Walker on how intransigent foreigners are Americans' best friends when it comes to Doha.

Ron Bailey witnesses the collapse of WTO talks in Cancun back in 2003.

Previous Doha blogging here and here.

Six reasons from our February 2006 issue why we don't need international trade talks to do what's best for us–and the world–when it comes to trade and ag subsidies. That is, liberalize, and unilaterally.