US offering to end tariffs on textiles, apparel etc.
From Wednesday, February 12, 2003
While the lifting of tariffs on textiles et al will have an incredible impact on poorer countries where textiles are a major export, the farm subsidies provided by the US government to American farmers will still remain a major issue, according to this New York Times story (registration required):
As the first stage in negotiations to expand free trade throughout the Western Hemisphere, the Bush administration is offering to lift all tariffs on textiles and apparel within five years.
...Last year, the United States approved an 80 percent increase in farm subsidies, promising to pay the nation's biggest producers nearly $180 billion over 10 years to grow wheat, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton. One-third of those crops are exported, amounting to a huge unfair trade barrier, according to many agricultural and trade experts.