What National Farm Policy Trends Could Mean for Efforts to Update WTO Rules on Domestic Support

The document highlights that current WTO disciplines fail to constrain high levels of trade-distorting support in major economies like the US, EU, China, and India, while hindering the ability of other members to invest in food security. It proposes simplifying rules through new overall limits tied to agricultural output, increased transparency, and special treatment for developing countries.

• A small number of WTO members account for up to 75% of all support classified as trade-distorting, specifically China, India, the United States, and the European Union.
• Existing WTO rules are ineffective at disciplining the ability of historically high-support members, such as the EU and US, to increase domestic support, and they do not address the rapid growth of support in emerging economies like India and China.
• The 'green box' (Annex 2 of the Agreement) currently allows for unlimited spending on programs with limited trade effects, such as rural infrastructure, research, and pest and disease control, providing room for members to increase public investment in food systems.
• To reform domestic support, the authors recommend implementing new overall limits on trade-distorting support that are gradually reduced and tied to agricultural output rather than fixed historical levels, alongside stronger transparency requirements.
• Proposed reforms include special and differential treatment for developing countries via higher initial caps or longer phase-in periods, limits on commodity-specific support, and excluding food bought for public stockholding from limits if the price is below an agreed international market price.

APA

Glauber, J. W., Hepburn, J., Laborde, D., & Murphy, S. (2020). What National Farm Policy Trends Could Mean for Efforts to Update WTO Rules on Domestic Support. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/farm-policy-trends-summary-en.pdf

Chicago

Glauber, Joseph W., Jonathan Hepburn, David Laborde, and Sophia Murphy. What National Farm Policy Trends Could Mean for Efforts to Update WTO Rules on Domestic Support. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/farm-policy-trends-summary-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Glauber |first1=Joseph W. |last2=Hepburn |first2=Jonathan |last3=Laborde |first3=David |last4=Murphy |first4=Sophia |title=What National Farm Policy Trends Could Mean for Efforts to Update WTO Rules on Domestic Support |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/farm-policy-trends-summary-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{glauber2020what, author = {Glauber, Joseph W. and Hepburn, Jonathan and Laborde, David and Murphy, Sophia}, title = {{What National Farm Policy Trends Could Mean for Efforts to Update WTO Rules on Domestic Support}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/farm-policy-trends-summary-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }