Lead:

As the world's largest economic power, the United States is in an advantageous position in terms of industrial structure and core competitiveness. The United States is a large agricultural country, with total agricultural output consistently ranking among the highest in the world, and at the same time, it is also the world's largest exporter of agricultural products. The United States has always protected and supported agriculture as the foundation of the national economy, and has long implemented a policy of huge subsidies for agriculture.

On May 13, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush signed a new "Farm Law" that stipulates that over the next 10 years, the allocation for agriculture will reach $190 billion, an 80 percent increase in subsidies compared with the current agricultural law. In addition to increasing subsidies for wheat, soybean and cotton growers, who have been receiving ** subsidies, the new agricultural law will also increase subsidies for producers of other agricultural and animal husbandry products such as peanuts, milk, honey and other agricultural products. The Agrarian Code has also decided to increase the cost of land conservation by 80 per cent, which will also provide financial support to producers of livestock products, fruits and vegetables, who have received little funding support in the past.

So what is a trade subsidy? The so-called trade subsidy refers to the direct or indirect way provided by the state or public institutions to its own export enterprises, or financial preferential policies, in order to reduce the cost of enterprise exports and improve competitiveness. Trade subsidies can be direct or indirect. Direct trade subsidies are simply negative taxes, and their consequences are the opposite of taxes. Indirect trade subsidies generally take the form of easy credit, cheap use of energy or free use of infrastructure. The amount of subsidy can maintain a fixed proportion relationship with the trade volume, which is called volume subsidy; It can also maintain a fixed proportion relationship with the value of trade, which is called an ad valorem subsidy.

As the world's largest economic power, the United States is in an advantageous position in terms of industrial structure and core competitiveness. The United States is a large agricultural country, with total agricultural output consistently ranking among the highest in the world, and at the same time, it is also the world's largest exporter of agricultural products. The United States has always protected and supported agriculture as the foundation of the national economy, and has long implemented a policy of huge subsidies for agriculture.

For U.S. farmers, whether they grow corn, cotton, or wheat in their fields, they hardly have to worry about whether they will be able to sell their products in the future, and they don't have to worry about floods that will reduce their yields and crops, because they are backed by U.S. agricultural subsidies. As a highly developed industrial country, the rapid development of agriculture in the United States has long relied on subsidies provided by the United States.

According to statistics, agricultural subsidies in the United States are about $40 billion per year. The first refinement of this figure is that for every $100 of agricultural output, agricultural subsidies are $20-30. Moreover, there are many kinds of agricultural subsidies in the United States, so that each farmer can get more than $10,000 in subsidies from ** every year. In addition, the U.S. agricultural subsidy provisions are also broadly applicable and cover almost all agricultural commodities.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2001, 11 percent of total farm income in the United States came from direct agricultural subsidies, which accounted for 42 percent of net farm income. In this way, it is not difficult for us to understand why American peasants are living more leisurely than Chinese peasants, because they have taken a "reassuring pill" and will certainly have a lot of enthusiasm for production, and this will further promote the rapid development of US agriculture. But if we put this subsidy policy into the international trading system, we will find that it brings unfairness to other countries.

The United States is the world's largest producer and exporter of agricultural products, wheat, feed grains and soybeans account for about 1/4 of the world's production, and the export volume is nearly half of the world's.

1. Suppressing the prices of world agricultural products will have an impact on the agriculture of developing countries that have no ability to subsidize, and seriously damage the interests of farmers in developing countries. Agricultural subsidies in the United States have become the biggest obstacle to developing countries expanding their agricultural exports. The United States has increased its already huge agricultural subsidies by a large margin, with the result that more agricultural products from developing countries cannot go abroad, and the agricultural products of developing countries will be in a more disadvantageous position in the world market.

2. Challenge WTO agricultural rules and undermine the international agricultural trade order. According to the U.S. agricultural subsidy concession schedule, since 2000, the U.S. agricultural aggregate support cannot exceed the $19.1 billion ceiling. The sharp increase in U.S. agricultural subsidies in recent years is challenging U.S. commitments to the international community.

3. It will have an extremely adverse impact on the new round of WTO agricultural trade negotiations and undermine the process of international agricultural trade policy reform. Although the United States has vowed to eliminate all trade-distorting domestic agricultural subsidies through WTO negotiations, increasing agricultural subsidies will "deal a serious blow" to the credibility of the United States in the new round of global trade negotiations, and many countries are full of doubts about the inconsistent practice of the United States in words and deeds.

4. In the short term, U.S. trade subsidies can indeed help farmers and farmers, but in the long run, they are harming farmers. The new bill will certainly greatly increase the enthusiasm of American farmers for production, and the surplus of agricultural products will not be far off, and in the end, American farmers will experience a price catastrophe.

In 2002, the United States introduced an agricultural law that greatly increased agricultural subsidies, which aroused strong dissatisfaction in the international community. The United States has always called itself the banner of trade liberalization and has always asked other countries to cut agricultural subsidies and open up their agricultural markets, but its own approach has gone the opposite way, which not only makes people question the double standards of the United States in international trade rules, but may also trigger the rise of global agricultural protectionism, which is not conducive to the establishment of fair and reasonable international agricultural trade rules.

Judging from the current international trade situation, the struggle between subsidies and countervailing will intensify. People expect that the United States will earnestly fulfill its commitment to the WTO to reduce agricultural subsidies and return its agricultural subsidy policy to the framework of WTO rules. The United States must also assume the responsibility of being a major agricultural trading country, promote a new round of agricultural negotiations at the WTO, and establish fair and reasonable international agricultural rules.