MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Opposition to U.S. farm subsidies fires FTAA talks

Calls for the elimination of U.S. farm subsidies have fired the talks of representatives from 34 nations in the Western Hemisphere gathered here for a ministerial meeting in Quito on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas .

Argentine Foreign Minister Carlos Ruckauf underscored the controversy over the farm subsidies during a joint news conference by the U.S. delegation and representatives of the nations that make up the Mercosur trade bloc: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. "In order to create a free trade area of the Americas we have to include all sectors," he said.

Hemisphere-wide free trade will only be possible if all the countries participate on an equal footing, without unfair advantages for any, according to the minister. Ruckauf said he understood why the United States lobbied within the World Trade Organization for the elimination of the even greater subsidies paid farmers in the European Union and Japan, but asserted that a similar measure should be proposed in the Americas. "We're planning on creating a free trade zone with the United States, not with Europe," and that is why it is necessary for the negotiations to address the interests of the 34 nations in the Americas that have agreed to form the FTAA, the Argentine minister said.

Ruckauf criticized the protests by grassroots organizations from across the Americas that have gathered in Quito to demand an end to FTAA negotiations and thwart the creation of the free trade zone set for 2005.

For his part, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the FTAA talks will be difficult because the United States must protect its interests in Europe and other regions while negotiating with Latin America.

Zoellick urged the Latin American nations that criticize U.S. farm subsidies to understand the position not only of the United States, but of several Caribbean countries that need to maintain farm subsidies in order to compete with European products.