The Doha Round of world trade talks fell apart this week as four major players - the U.S., EU, India and Brazil - were unable to reach an agreement. U.S. trade-distorting agricultural subsidies have been a point of contention throughout the talks, but the National Corn Growers Association defends those programs.
"The U.S. farm programs are not the reason that the talks failed," says Ron Litterer, NCGA first vice president. "The United States showed a great deal of flexibility in the negotiations in order to try and achieve a successful outcome at the talks. Unfortunately, inflexibility from others in the G4 on market access issues involving agriculture products also led to this development.
"U.S. agriculture should take comfort in knowing the team did not accept a bad deal that would hinder American farmers and ranchers," Litterer says.
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