December 18, 2007	Tuesday	Zilhaj 7, 1428

GENEVA, Dec 17: The World Trade Organisation agreed on Monday to rule on claims by Canada and Brazil that subsidies the United States gives its farmers violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) limits, trade sources said.

The WTO, during a meeting of its 151 members at its Geneva headquarters, agreed to hear the complaints filed this year by Canada and Brazil after attempts failed by the three countries to reach agreement among themselves, the sources said.

The World Trade Organisation is to merge the two cases and will appoint a panel of experts to examine the dispute and to report back within six months. Their verdict can then be appealed.

Brazil filed its complaint in July.

It then entered bilateral discussions with Washington that yielded no progress, prompting Brazil to take its case to the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

Canada has also brought its complaint to the DSB, arguing that the United States had violated its WTO commitments on subsidies for a wide variety of crops, including corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar, peas and beans.

The Canadian action accuses Washington of exceeding its commitments on subsidies by billions of dollars in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Brazil’s complaint covers subsidies over the same period. In 2005, the Dispute Settlement Body ruled that US farm subsidies gave US cotton an unfair advantage in the world market, seriously harming Brazil’s cotton growers.

Washington on Monday repeated the comments it made last month on the complaints, saying it was “disappointed” about both cases and that the disputes distracted from the “essential task of completing the Doha Development Round negotiations.”

A US spokesman rejected the Brazilian contention that it had provided farms with support in excess of its World Trade Organisation commitments.

Regarding Canada, Washington maintained that some of the measures identified in the complaint had already ceased to exist. —AFP