WTO Members Delay Talks on Bali TRQ Mechanism at Agriculture Committee Meeting

Discussions over the Bali tariff rate quota underfill mechanism were suspended at the World Trade Organization Committee on Agriculture's Sept. 23-24 meeting, the WTO said. The underfill mechanism refers to cases where the fill rate of a TRQ in a given year is below 65% or the fill rate is not notified, as formulated during the 2017-19 review of the implementation of the Bali TRQ decision, WTO said. One key outstanding issue in paragraph four is how to get to closure on an underfill for a developing importing member that does not achieve the required increase in the fill rate in the final stage of the mechanism, the WTO said. Talks over how to resolve this issue were suspended, with some members requesting more time for discussion.

The agriculture committee also discussed the second triennial review of the Nairobi Export Competition Decision that committed WTO members to eliminate farm subsides contingent on export. With several export competition issues currently in discussion, the review was postponed to the next committee meeting in March, the WTO said.

Also, New Zealand questioned the U.S. over its farm support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand asked if the U.S. could provide updates on the total amount of funding delivered under the pandemic assistance for producer programs and on the timing for notification of these payments and clarify how it would ensure that the remaining funds will be deployed in a way proportionate to the harm it seeks to address and consistent with WTO obligations.

The committee expects to complete the talks by year end.