United States Files Second Complaint Against India's Under Reporting of Subsidies

Ben Connor with DTB Agritrade is a consulting firm in Washington DC. And he says under the World Trade Organization, India is supposed to report subsidy information. However, they are not playing by the rules.

“Well underestimating by huge factors. They have the 10% limit of the value of their production, but they're not supposed to exceed they're routinely getting 6070 80% of the value of production for those two crops. So just massive subsidies. And so the US United States at the WTO recently submitted this counter-notification that says, Okay, this is how you're supposed to be reporting the subsidies and based on your data and the correct methodology, your way on a compliance.”

Conner explains that the WTO was created to limit countries and providing subsidies that would distort international markets of the two possible next steps. One is it will be discussed at an upcoming ministerial meeting where India will try to negotiate a new exemption and they may or may not get support for it. He hopes that will not happen as it could undermine agricultural agreements in the WTO in general, and the other possible next step is;”

“(At) some point with a WTO case to kind of get the official word showing that India is violating the WTO commitment because right now it's kind of a he said she said exercise and this point hasn't stopped India from headed down the road they're on.”

Under reporting subsidies, he says leads to overproduction and massive public stocks.