Freer trade must be built on greater trust. If American farmers are going to gear up to produce even greater harvests destined for foreign markets, they need to know that our exports will be treated fairly. If our customers are going to become even more reliant on American soybeans, they need to know they can count on us to be a reliable supplier of a high quality and safe product. Strengthening Agricultural Trade Disciplines To build greater trust, we need stronger WTO disciplines on agricultural trade. The average WTO tariff binding for agricultural products is around 60 percent, with many tariffs over 100 percent.
Japan is permitted similarly large levels of such support.
These massive obstacles to agricultural trade have far-reaching consequences. They are, to begin with, a serious burden on U.S. commerce. In addition, as the World Bank has documented, European agricultural protectionism is profoundly harmful to developing countries. The United States advocates comprehensive reform of agricultural trade. The European Union and Japan have shown little evidence that they are ready to reform agricultural trade.