Agence France Presse
GENEVA, June 28 (AFP) - A new United States proposal on liberalising global agriculture includes a formula on cutting domestic support measures, trade sources said on Wednesday.
But the US remains firm on its wish to see export subsidies eliminated under the proposal unveiled in Paris by US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on Tuesday.
The proposal -- described as a "hard stance" by sources -- is likely to be discussed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) during a special session of its Agricultural Committee here Thursday and Friday.
It is unlikely to find favour with the European Union which supports the use of granting subsidies to its farmers -- a measure firmly rejected by the US and the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries.
Under the plan, countries would be required to reduce certain domestic subsidies by a targeted percentage of their total agricultural production by the end of a period to be agreed, trade sources said.
Unlike the formula agreed under the Uruguay Round of trade talks which ended in 1994, the proposal would theoretically allow for subsidies to be increased if a nation started at a lower rate, sources said.
"Our intent in putting forward this proposal is to define not merely what we believe should be the scope of an agriculture negotiation, but also to define its goals," Barshefsky told reporters on the sidelines of an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ministerial meeting.
Talks on agriculture and services began earlier in the year at the WTO, after last year's ministerial meet in Seattle failed to agree a framework and slowed down the process.:
