U.S. WTO Domestic Support Reduction Commitments and Notifications

Overview Background and Issues Government Payments and the Farm Sector What Is Meant by Decoupling? Program Provisions Recommended Readings Recommended Data Glossary Questions and Answers Related Links Maps

Under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, the United States and other countries agreed to keep the total value of trade-distorting domestic support to farmers from exceeding predetermined ceiling levels and to notify the World Trade Organization (WTO) of annual domestic support spending. The tables below summarize U.S. notifications to the WTO since 1995.

Data:

Data Set Last Updated U.S. domestic support and support reduction commitments by policy category, 1986-88 average and 1995 through 2007 Summarizes Amber box data from U.S. WTO notifications by program. November 2009 U.S. notifications on exempt Green box policies, 1995-2007 Summarizes Green box expenditures from U.S. WTO notifications April 2009 U.S. domestic support, 1986-88 average and 1995 through 2007: Non-exempt direct payments Summarizes data for commodity-specific provisions from U.S. WTO notifications. Examples of commodity-specific provisions include support prices, loan rates, and payment rates that are announced for each commodity for each crop year. November 2009 U.S. domestic support: Derivation of the 1986-88 base aggregate measurement of support (AMS) and the base for reductions Illustrates the calculation of the United States' predetermined ceiling—based on the level of trade-distorting domestic support in the base period 1986-88 permitted under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. March 2003 Classification of U.S. domestic programs for notification to the WTO, 1995-96 Shows how various U.S. programs were reported to the WTO in 1995 and 1996. December 1998

For More Information...

World Trade Organization (WTO) Briefing Room. Contains a wide variety of information about all aspects of the Agreement on Agriculture and issues related to the current round of world trade negotiations.

WTO Agricultural Trade Policy Commitments Database. Contains data on implementation of commitments in agricultural policy by WTO members.

Copies of an individual country's notification to the WTO can be downloaded from the WTO website. For instructions, see the More Info tab in the ERS WTO Domestic Support Notifications database.