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February 02, 2006
US cotton subsidies scrapped!
The BBC reports today that the US has scrapped its major cotton subsidies! This has to be good news for Burkina Faso.
These subsidies had been declared illegal by the WTO because they distorted the global market.
In particular, they undermined the prices that poor cotton-producing countries like Burkina Faso could get for their cotton. Such subsidies thus actively damaged efforts of these countries to work their own way out of poverty. I wrote about the issue here.
Now that the US has taken this step, let's hope the EU begin to deal with the iniquities of the Common Agriculture Policy subsidies...
Tags: africa burkina burkina faso trade wto cotton justice poverty subsidies us cotton subsidies
Posted by Keith at February 2, 2006 08:47 AM
Comments
Thought of you as I read the story at work - good news
Posted by: Steve at February 2, 2006 07:52 PM
