On May 9, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. submitted the first-ever counter notification in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee of Agriculture in regard to India’s market price support for wheat and rice on May 4, 2018.
The counter notification identifies the following areas of concern:
- The quantity of production used in market price support calculations;
- The exclusion of state-level bonuses from calculations of applied administered prices;
- Exclusion from India’s notifications of information on the total value of production of wheat and rice;
- Issues with currency conversions.
According to the USTR, India has substantially underreported its market price support for wheat and rice, exceeding its allowable levels of trade distorting domestic support according to WTO Agreement on Agriculture methodology. The next WTO Committee of Agriculture meeting is scheduled for June 2018.
The USTR press release may be found here:
