ISDS Case Map
sugar/sweetners
A few days ago an influential political friend of the region asked about the current state of the negotiations between the Caribbean and the Europe for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
This 2005 report describes efforts by the US sugar
industry to influence US policy on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the last 5-10 years, including
tracking money spent on lobbying, identifying and summarizing papers and studies by the industry
to support its position, and providing a description of the industry's connections to policymakers.
Sugar cane farmers have added their voice to demands that Government seeks an extension of the Comesa moratorium, which comes into effect from early next year. The Kenya Sugarcane Grower's Union officials petitioned President Kibaki to lead the extension campaign to enable local factories and market get ready to compete with the imports from the region.
A round table discussion held in Barbados on April 3rd and 4th between CARICOM sugar producing countries and the European Union appeared to achieve the exact opposite of what it intended.
Australia will push the United States to open its protected sugar market at the first review of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the trans-Pacific economic partners.
Here's a switch. US sugar farmers are supporting a proposed US/Peru Free Trade Agreement. They've been solidly against FTAs in the past.
The US Sugar Alliance, representing cane and beet farmers, says it will lobby strongly against any further opening of the US market to Australian sugar. Meantime, there are calls today for Australia to scrap the free trade agreement.
Australia will urge the US to prise open its lucrative sugar markets as part of a fresh push to improve access for farmers under the free trade deal. The Howard Government's renewed attempt to secure a better deal from the free trade agreement came as Acting Prime Minister Mark Vaile defended lopsided results from the first year of the pact.
The US sugar industry strongly prefers that negotiation of sugar market access occur
in the multilateral, comprehensive WTO context, where foreign subsidies can also be
addressed, rather than in bilateral and regional FTAs, where subsidies are not
addressed.
Speculation is that negotiations for a US-Andean FTA are nearing completion. House Ag Committee ranking member Collin Peterson of Minnesota says Administration officials may be making similar mistakes to those made in CAFTA.
