Brazil’s WTO Case Against the U.S. Cotton Program

<p>In late 2002 Brazil initiated a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement case (DS267) against specific provisions of the U.S. cotton program. On September 8 2004 a WTO dispute settlement (DS) panel ruled against the United States on several key issues in case DS267. The United States appealed the case to the WTO's Appellate Body (AB) which on March 3 2005 confirmed the earlier DS panel findings against U.S. cotton programs. Key findings include (1) U.S. domestic cotton subsidies have exceeded WTO commitments of the 1992 benchmark year thereby losing the protection afforded by the Peace Clause which shielded them from substantive challenges; (2) the two major types of direct payments made under U.S. farm programs - Production Flexibility Contract payments of the 1996 Farm Act and the Direct Payments of the 2002 Farm Act - do not qualify for WTO exemptions from reduction commitments as fully decoupled income support and should therefore count against the Peace Clause limits; (3) Step-2 program payments are prohibited subsidies; (4) U.S. export credit guarantees are effectively export subsidies making them subject to previously notified export subsidy commitments; and (5) U.S. domestic support measures that are contingent on market prices have resulted in excess cotton production and exports that in turn have caused low international prices and have resulted in serious prejudice to Brazil.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>