Jonesboro Times

Washington –  Last week, Representatives Rick Crawford (AR-01) and Tracey Mann (KS-01) led a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging them to formally initiate a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement case against India for violating the trade agreement.

Current WTO rules allow governments to subsidize up to 10% of the value of commodity production; however, the Indian government continues to subsidize more than half of the value of production for several commodities, including rice and wheat. India’s lack of rule-following, and the U.S. government’s lack of enforcement, have reshaped global agricultural production and trade channels by flooding the market with India-subsidized rice, unfairly penalizing American rice producers in export markets.

“Due to India’s blatant disregard of the trade agreement, American rice farmers are being forced to sell their crops at a lower price. It’s clear that our farmers are not being given the level playing field that they were promised by both the US government and the WTO. We must hold those accountable who violate their trade agreements, which is why my colleagues and I are calling on the US to initiate a dispute settlement case,” said Rep. Crawford.

“Agricultural trade agreements exist to support the tireless efforts of American farmers, ranchers, and producers,” said Rep. Mann. “When a country violates a trade agreement or a World Trade Organization (WTO) commitment, they must be held accountable. Otherwise, American producers will bear the cost of their actions. India has abused those WTO commitments by dramatically over-subsidizing their wheat and rice farm sector with trade-distorting forms of support, which is leading to artificially low-priced exports. American producers, who are following the WTO rules, should not have to compete with such blatant disregard for market fairness. We must initiate a WTO dispute settlement case, which is the swift action that American producers deserve.”

Original source can be found here.