http://blog.gmfus.org/2007/02/07/dc-showdown-for-fischer-boel/ Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation Tue, 6 Jan 2009 07:02:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://blog.gmfus.org/2007/02/07/dc-showdown-for-fischer-boel/#comment-20 FarmPolicy.com » Blog Archives » A Conversation with U.S. Representative Adrian Smith (R-NE, 3rd) Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:22:02 +0000 http://blog.gmfus.org/2007/02/07/dc-showdown-for-fischer-boel/#comment-20 [...] German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Fellow Jack Thurston noted yesterday at the GMF Blog (“DC showdown for Fischer Boel?”) that, “European Union Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel will be in Washington DC on Thursday and Friday this week for meetings with all the key farm policy players in the Administration and in Congress. A deal between the EU and the US on cutting farm tariffs and subsidies holds the key to the stalled WTO ‘Doha Development Agenda’ trade negotiations. While EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is responsible for Europe’s trade policy as a whole, it is important to remember that agricultural trade remains the exclusive domain of Mrs Fischer Boel. Last week the US Administration published its draft Farm Bill, will this week’s talks help break the logjam? For the past twelve months or more, it’s been a case of ‘after you, no, after you’, with the EU calling on the US to reduce the amount of trade-distorting aid it pays out to farmers, and the US calling on the EU to cut the tariffs it applies to imports of food into Europe. However, in recent weeks there have been stirrings of movement. Last month, President Bush urged his own top trade negotiator Susan Schwab and the EU’s Peter Mandelson to ‘go to it…just get it done’. Two weeks later, representatives of the United States, the European Union, India, Brazil and almost two dozen other countries met at Davos, Switzerland for the first time since talks were suspended. And last week the Administration published its draft farm bill. The complex package of proposals was carefully spun by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns depending upon which audience he was speaking.” [...] [...] German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Fellow Jack Thurston noted yesterday at the GMF Blog (“DC showdown for Fischer Boel?”) that, “European Union Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel will be in Washington DC on Thursday and Friday this week for meetings with all the key farm policy players in the Administration and in Congress. A deal between the EU and the US on cutting farm tariffs and subsidies holds the key to the stalled WTO ‘Doha Development Agenda’ trade negotiations. While EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is responsible for Europe’s trade policy as a whole, it is important to remember that agricultural trade remains the exclusive domain of Mrs Fischer Boel. Last week the US Administration published its draft Farm Bill, will this week’s talks help break the logjam? For the past twelve months or more, it’s been a case of ‘after you, no, after you’, with the EU calling on the US to reduce the amount of trade-distorting aid it pays out to farmers, and the US calling on the EU to cut the tariffs it applies to imports of food into Europe. However, in recent weeks there have been stirrings of movement. Last month, President Bush urged his own top trade negotiator Susan Schwab and the EU’s Peter Mandelson to ‘go to it…just get it done’. Two weeks later, representatives of the United States, the European Union, India, Brazil and almost two dozen other countries met at Davos, Switzerland for the first time since talks were suspended. And last week the Administration published its draft farm bill. The complex package of proposals was carefully spun by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns depending upon which audience he was speaking.” [...]

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