Agriculture

Japan To Hang Tough On Tariffs At WTO

Worried that too few of its farm products may be exempted from massive tariff cuts, Japan plans to keep up the pressure on other World Trade Organization members as they try to hammer out a multilateral trade agreement.

Japan's Refusal Of American Apples Hurting Michigan Growers

Japan's 10-year-old import restrictions against U.S.-grown apples are hurting Michigan's growers, even though the state doesn't ship apples there. The Japanese government virtually stopped importing American apples in 1994, saying it feared they would bring in fire blight, a bacterial disease that can reduce yields and kill trees.

Mad Cow 'Firewalls' Just a Smokescreen

It's been seven months since the discovery of a mad cow-infected Holstein in Washington state, time enough for the administration to have developed a comprehensive regulatory response to protect the U.S. beef supply. Indeed, to listen to the rhetoric of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, you'd think the administration had done just that. In

France Considers WTO Proposal On Agriculture "Unacceptable"

PARIS, July 21 (Xinhuanet) -- French President Jacques Chirac described Wednesday as "unacceptable" a proposal made by World Trade Organization (WTO) on agriculture to restart the Doha round multilateral negotiations.

A Bitter Tase of Honey

The cosy-sounding world of honey - redolent of toasted crumpets and jars with flowery labels in country shops - has been going through turbulent times. When Northumbrian honey farmer Willie Robson blew the whistle on a fellow beekeeper, Richard Brodie, for potting Argentine honey and passing it off as Scottish borders honey, the court case that resulted last week before

Mediators Vow Best Efforts To Find Global Trade Agreement At WTO Meeting

Key mediators warned Tuesday that failure to agree on a draft of a global trade treaty at next week's gathering of the World Trade Organization could doom talks indefinitely.

Wto Draft Framework Disappointing: India

Disappointed over the draft Framework for World Trade Organisation negotiations, India on Monday said more work was needed on agriculture to make it acceptable. "We believe that much work will have to be done in making the draft text acceptable," Commerce Ministry on Monday said in a statement.

WTO Compromise In Global Trade Talks Draws Mixed Reaction

Trading nations have given a mixed reception so far to a final attempt by the World Trade Organisation to broker a compromise in deadlocked global trade talks by the end of the month. As informal discussions continued in Geneva, WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi reiterated Tuesday that the compromise text released Friday struck a balance between the 147 member states.

EU Welcomes WTO Proposal As Positive Step

The European Union says a proposed deal to rescue global trade talks is a "step in the right direction." Mediators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) presented a draft last Friday (Jul. 16) for an agreement on steering the stalled Doha Development Round (DDR) negotiations towards a pact on reforming global trade.

Scientist Calls Decaf Coffee Row Tempest in Teacup

SAO PAULO, Brazil - The Brazilian scientist who recently discovered naturally decaffeinated coffee plants from a collection of wild Ethiopian beans said yesterday reports that he had taken coffee plants illegally from the African country were "nonsense." The spat has underscored the potential money at stake over the rights to