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Trade

A key reform is to promote trade rules that favor non-trade distorting support payments. Trade agreements should favor farm income support payments that discourage or at least do not encourage heavier production of price-suppressing surpluses of agricultural commodities…Trade reform policies can and must be part of a package that liberalizes U.S. commodity agriculture and promotes a true domestic rural development model based on entrepreneurship…reforming trade agreements and rules has the potential to provide multiple benefits to the rural communities in the United States and developing nations (Hunger Report 2005, Page 110). Cross Reference: Rural Development (International and Domestic) and Agriculture (International and Domestic)
Development assistance is only one component of what an effective partnership with poor countries should include. Fairer trade rules and deeper debt relief also are essential to developing countries' being able to climb out of poverty and hunger (Hunger Report 2004, Page 87) Cross Reference: Development Assistance, and Debt Relief
As one of the countries that stands to gain from agricultural trade liberalization, the United States should take the lead in reducing trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and in urging other countries to do the same (Hunger Report 2003, Page 109) Cross Reference: Agriculture
International trade rules should be true to the charter of the WTO and relevant for development (Hunger Report 2003, Page 102).
Trade rules also must change if trade is to benefit poor countries…Key changes include reducing tariffs on agricultural products, ending tariff escalation and tariff peaks, and eliminating both production-linked domestic and export subsidies (Hunger Report 2003, Page 101). Cross Reference: Agriculture
Key trade issues should be protecting African countries' ability to diversify their agriculture from primary agricultural commodities, negotiating for better markets or raw and value-added agricultural products, and getting compensatory programs for low-income food-importing African countries that might be hurt by industrialized countries' agricultural liberalization (Hunger Report 2003, Page 87). Cross Reference: African Agriculture
African countries should participate more effectively in the ongoing WTO negotiations, pressing for issues that are of interest to African countries' international trade (Hunger Report 2003, Page 87).
African countries must match trade's growth with food security protections, particularly for poor urban consumers (Hunger Report 2003, Page 85). Cross Reference: Food Security
African economies also must participate more actively in shaping the rules that govern global trade, notably international trade negotiations. Because the current rules favor industrialized countries' trade and limit African trade, African countries must demand that this bias be eliminated and international trade rules made fair (Hunger Report 2003, Page 85) Cross Reference: Economy
African countries must position their economies to take advantage of agricultural development and trade opportunities (Hunger Report 2003, Page 81). Cross Reference: African Agriculture
Any effort to development agriculture and improve household food security must include a focus on women. Most African farmers are women, and female-headed households are prone to hunger and poverty. African women generate two-thirds of Africa's agricultural production, and participate in trade and processing (Hunger Report 2003, Page 77). Cross Reference: African Agriculture, Food Security and Gender Equality
If industrialized countries want a well-functioning, robust global trading system, they also must reform their agricultural policies. If developing countries were not hampered by industrialized countries' subsidies and protections, they could move more rapidly to raise their living standards. The whole world would gain economically and in terms of social stability and peace (Hunger Report 2003, Page 69). Cross Reference: Agriculture (Domestic and International)
Developing countries must be able to participate more effectively if they hope to use their WTO membership to construct a partnership for development through trade and more fully integrate into the global economy on their own terms (Hunger Report 2003, Page 67). Cross Reference: Economy
In order for deep liberalization to be successful in reducing poverty, countries must be adequately prepared politically, economically, and institutionally (Hunger Report 2003, Page 63). Cross Reference: Economy
The ultimate goal of U. S. farm programs must be to promote sustainable agriculture, reduce rural poverty and eliminate food insecurity, both in the United States and throughout the world. Toward this end, the United States should: gradually eliminate tariffs on developing country agriculture exports, export subsidies and production-linked domestic support payments; support U.S. farmers who leave agriculture with adjustment assistance that would include counseling, job training, education reimbursement and transportation aid; support small and mid-size farmers with comprehensive rural development programs and technical assistance in adopting new technologies and developing greater economies of scale; establish provisions for farmers to help them sustain losses resulting from catastrophic weather events; strengthen assistance for farmers in meeting conservation goals and environmental mandates, including increased technical assistance, cost-share programs and incentive payments for use of environmentally friendly practices; increase research and regulation in areas, such as biotechnology, food safety, disease prevention and environmental quality; invest in rural communities by supporting economic development initiatives, job training, business promotion and infrastructure development, and reduce hunger in the United States (through nutrition and poverty reduction programs) and worldwide (through development assistance and trade opportunities), with this adding to the ongoing demand for food production (Hunger Report 2003, Page 55). Cross Reference: Agriculture (International), Food Security (International), Rural Development (International), Environment, Biotechnology, Nutrition Programs, and Development Assistance.
Internationally, trade agreements should include provisions that protect people who might go hungry because of trade liberalization. Trade negotiations should allow the continuation of policies that protect food security (Hunger Report 2003, Side Bar: Page 23). Cross Reference: Food Security
Expanding trade and investment must be at the core of any country's development strategy, but such an approach also must ensure that the benefits of trade and investment are distributed broadly and fairly, and help create jobs and assets for poor people (Hunger Report 2002, Page 79).
Substantial trade liberalization would provide an additional cumulative income in developing countries of some $1.5 trillion over a decade and could help lift at least 300 million people out of poverty by 2015. But the next round of trade liberalization should focus on development and poverty reduction and especially on reducing the distortions in global agriculture (Hunger Report 2002, Page 84) Cross Reference: Agriculture (Domestic and International)
International trade rules need to give developing countries the flexibility to pursue rural development and food security goals (Hunger Report 2002, Page 84). Cross Reference: Rural Development and Food Security
Northern governments and institutions should promote international trade that includes safeguards for labor rights, the environment and food security, and opens developed country markets to developing country exports of processed products (Hunger Report 2000, Page 71). Cross Reference: Food Security and Environment
Therefore, at a minimum, agreements on trade in intellectual property rights (TRIPs) should not be permitted to push aside the public sector's role in agricultural research (Hunger Report 2000, Pages 71 – 75). Cross Reference: Agriculture
Northern governments should uphold labor and environmental safeguards in trade agreements (Hunger Report 2000, Page 76) Cross Reference: Environment

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