Economy

India argues against farm tariff concessions to ease Covid-19 woes

Amiti Se | Updated on June 21, 2020 Published on June 21, 2020

WTO members review farm-support packages and export restrictions aimed at preventing domestic shortages

India has questioned the rationale of joint statements issued by some countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO) pushing for greater opening of markets for agricultural products. It has argued that for developing countries, export restrictions are a tool to prevent domestic shortages and are essential.

The country made a case against permanent tariff concessions or a dilution of the tariff bindings at a special meeting of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) in Geneva recently. “Members reviewed a number of farm-support packages and export-restrictive measures adopted as response to the Covid-19 crisis,” a trade official in Geneva told BusinessLine.

While India asked other countries to formulate a “balanced, inclusive and calibrated” response to Covid-19, it disagreed with the idea of permanent tariff concessions, or a dilution of the tariff bindings as a response to a temporary crisis.

New Delhi also warned about a growing narrative that seeks to prohibit the use of export restrictions on medical and agricultural products. "For developing countries, export restrictions are a WTO-consistent policy tool that are important to prevent critical domestic shortages of essential supplies," India said.

A recent Canada-led joint statement, a new Cairns Group initiative and an Ottawa Group statement, all made a case for open and predictable trade amidst the Covid-19 crisis.

Australia, Chile, Japan, Norway, Brazil, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Columbia, Russia and Jamaica expressed their full support for Canada’ s joint statement, in which the co-sponsors vowed to refrain from imposing trade-restrictive measures that would ultimately have a negative impact on the food security, nutrition and health of members and their populations.

The new Cairns group proposal presented by Australia stated that Covid-19 export restrictive measures should be “targeted, proportionate, transparent, temporary and consistent with the WTO rules”.

It recommended greater WTO scrutiny of Covid-19 agriculture-support measures — including tracking by the WTO secretariat, regular CoA discussions and a voluntary, member-driven WTO Covid-19 Agricultural Working Group.

Questions were also targeted at the US’s $19 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, launched in April 2020, including $16 billion in direct support to farmers and ranchers.

Published on June 21, 2020

A letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.

Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.

In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.

We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.

But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.

I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.

A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!

Support Quality Journalism
Shipping Minister Mandaviya revives debate on flagging ships in India