WTO allows Brazil sanctions on US

[Merlin]

I understand the amount of sanctions has now been decided, and that the case was at the WTO since 2002.

WTO allows Brazil sanctions in US cotton row

31 Aug GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization set conditions for how Brazil can retaliate against the United States over its cotton subsidies on Monday, but the two sides began another fight over what the sanctions were worth.

Brazil said the ruling would entitle it to about $800 million in sanctions against the United States this year, including $340 million of "cross-retaliation" against intellectual property or services.

The United States said the sanctions would be worth about $300 million, and that Brazil would be unlikely in the near future be able to retaliate against intellectual property -- for instance, lifting patent protection on pharmaceuticals, rather than simply raising tariffs on U.S. goods. ....

POLITICIZED ISSUE
The complex WTO arbitration ruling brings to a climax one of the most politicized disputes in WTO history, which goes to the heart of developing countries' calls to reform world trade in agricultural goods.

Brazil is the plaintiff in this case, but U.S. subsidies have affected cotton producers all over the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where the entire gross domestic product of most cotton exporters is smaller than subsidies paid by the United States to its 25,000 cotton farmers.

The United States is also under pressure to cut cotton subsidies in the WTO's Doha round on a new trade deal, on which key ministers are meeting in Delhi this week. ....

[Merlin]

Let's see how this turns out.

Brazil Will Talk With U.S. Before Imposing Sanctions

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil will hold talks with the U.S. on ending American subsidies to cotton growers before imposing the sanctions authorized by the World Trade Organization, Trade Secretary Welber Barral said.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber, a group of seven ministries responsible for trade policies, will set a period to try to reach an accord with U.S. before levying the $294.7 million of duties the WTO approved, Barral told reporters today in Brasilia. The chamber will meet Sept. 22. .....

The sanctions that can be imposed against U.S. goods is the second-largest retaliation on record and aims to compensate Brazil for subsidies paid to U.S. cotton farmers, the WTO ruled Aug. 31. ....

[crooks]

I can see both sides POV here - Obviously Brazil is a great deal poorer and is getting whacked by a bigger country with a bigger stick but at the same time politically America can't just pull the subsidy plug, farmers (ironically a large proportion of them Republicans;)) would holler in the streets at the idea of further eroding America's agricultural industries.

Morally America (and Western Europe, no western country is an angel in this) should end or greatly reduce subsidies, but for food protection and political reasons, we won't.