The U.S. government is dead set against India and other governments around the world providing financial support to their poor farmers. At the same time, the United States is once again squaring off with Brazil, in another round of the long running “cotton dispute” between the two nations over U.S. subsidies. The U.S. government’s strategy of non-compliance with WTO rules against those subsidies has a clear goal. In soccer terms, it seeks to compel Brazil to accept the consolation match – rather than raise the champion’s trophy by winning U.S. compliance. A little bit of history is in order. In 2005, in a decision hailed widely at the time, the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB)ordered the U.S. government to eliminate its cotton production subsidies as well as its agricultural commodity export guarantee programs. Read the entire article at The Globalist here.

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