U.S. TO PUSH FOR BROAD WTO AG TALKS: The United States hopes to persuade India this week that New Delhi’s demand for a permanent solution on its public stockholding food security concerns can only be accomplished in the context of a broader agricultural negotiation at the World Trade Organization, a U.S. official told reporters. India clung to its tough agricultural demands in the run-up to the ministerial conference in the United Arab Emirates, and is pushing for a standalone deal that would shield its public stockholding program from a legal challenge under WTO rules. But that me-first approach faces such strong opposition from agricultural exporters, that “I hope we can get them to agree that position has failed,” the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations. The United States has said “for many, many years we're willing to reform on the domestic support side, but we also need others to agree to reform on the market access side,” the U.S. official said, referring to a potential trade-off between U.S. farm subsidies and foreign tariffs. “We're not asking everybody to take the same level of commitments on everything. But you know, we need to look to move the conversations holistically.” A draft text circulated earlier this month in Geneva calls on countries to launch comprehensive agriculture negotiations, with the goal of reaching agreement on key elements of a deal as early as the WTO’s next ministerial conference in two years. However, that timetable is just one of many undecided elements in the text. House Ag Caucus speaks: Meanwhile, the newly launched House Agriculture Trade Caucus, in one of its first acts, is urging “the Biden Administration to make agriculture a priority in its trade agenda” by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers for American agricultural exports. “Specifically, USTR and USDA must work to secure agreements that lower tariffs, ensure sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations are science-based, transparent, and consistent, and eliminate the abuse of geographical indicators in the food sector,” the bipartisan group wrote in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. PRESSURE MOUNTS WITH MC13 IN MOTION: U.K. Trade Minister Greg Hands told Doug that this week in Abu Dhabi won’t be a success unless countries agree to continue a nearly 26-year-old ban on collecting duties on digitally-traded goods and other electronic transmissions. “We think it would be a very retrograde step to end the moratorium,” he said. The fate of the e-commerce customs duties moratorium is one of several issues still up in the air as members gather today in Abu Dhabi, such as a new agreement to curb harmful fishing subsidies and a work plan for the new agricultural negotiations. On TRIPS waiver: GOP Reps. Michelle Steel (Calif.) and Darin LaHood (Ill.) also called on the Biden administration to reject a proposal to waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 therapeutics and diagnostics ahead of the ministerial. “We believe that this proposed ‘waiver’ would abet and embolden the [Chinese Communist Party’s] efforts to acquire and exploit U.S. technology at the expense of our economic and national security,” they wrote in a letter, which is addressed to the president and dated Friday. Doug and Camille Gijs have more on what to expect as MC13 kicks off.
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