Mandelson attacks US over cotton subsidies
Peter Mandelson tonight attacked the United States over subsidies paid to its cotton farmers.
The EU trade commissioner dismissed concessions from the US designed to inject fresh momentum into the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong.
Mr Mandelson accused the US of hiding behind a “gigantic great smokescreen” in a bid to “dodge” its responsibility to cotton growers in Africa.
West African delegates in Hong Kong say their cotton farmers are being wiped out because US farm subsidies are depressing world cotton prices.
Mr Mandelson warned those countries could walk out of the talks causing them to fail.
“There are some very needy developing countries, like for example the cotton producers of west Africa,” he said.
“This is the future of their economies, their livelihoods, the very basis of their economic survival.
“If we don’t deal with the trade-distorting subsidies and the impact on their production and what is going on in the United States for example, the consequences are huge and they have legitimate demands. And if those demands are not met then we risk breakdown.”
The US has responded to pressure in Hong Kong by offering to scrap duties paid by African cotton exporters. But African ministers say that is irrelevant because the US is unlikely to buy their cotton.
Mr Mandelson told Channel Four News: “Well, that is a negotiating ploy. It is a gigantic great smokescreen behind which they think they can dodge their responsibilities to cotton growers in Africa. And I don’t think anyone in Hong Kong is going to be convinced by that.”
