The 1995 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) provided for the calculated liberalization of the textiles and apparel sectors over a 10-year period except for some safeguard measures ending on December 31, 2008. These safeguard measures allowed for import restrictions by the U.S. on certain...

Domestic subsidies for cotton and other commodities have been a major topic of interest, especially during the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization trade negotiations. Many developing countries have insisted that domestic subsidies in countries like the United States represent significant...

The Ministerial Declaration that emerged from the recently concluded World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Hong Kong continued the efforts of members to reform and liberalize the world cotton market “…ambitiously, expeditiously, and specifically” (WTO, 2005). The special...

The United States has issued a proposal to the world trading community outlining several steps to jumpstart the stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on agriculture. The proposal is intended as a challenge to members of the WTO to improve market access through “ambitious tariff...

Economic Fundamentals - Real GDP growth is projected to be stable at about 2.5% per year in developed countries and be around 5% in developing nations. A more favorable exchange rate between China’s currency and the U.S. dollar may make U.S. cotton more affordable to China’s growing cotton...

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was passed into law on May 22, 2008 with veto override votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate (House 2008). A difference between the 2002 and the 2008 bills is the newly instituted revenue-based counter-cyclical program called the...

This paper uses a modified policy analysis matrix (PAM) approach to assess the efficiency of cotton production in five major producing states in India. The results indicate that cotton is not efficiently produced in the second largest cotton producing state in the country. Without government...

This study attempts to summarize information on farm policies being used for seven major crops–corn, cotton, rice, sorghum, soybeans, sugar, and wheat–by a group of 21 countries representing both developing and developed nations. Overall, the study concludes that agriculture has a special...