An End to EU Sugar Dumping? Implications of the WTO panel ruling in the dispute against EU sugar policies brought by Brazil, Thailand, and Australia

Overview

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has taken a further step towards outlawing one of the most pernicious trade practices, that is the subsidised export dumping of surplus agricultural production by rich countries. Agricultural subsidies are the most contentious issue in ongoing WTO negotiations. For many developing countries, the unfair use of subsidies to dump surplus production in export markets symbolises the injustice of current trade rules, and the double standards of rich countries’ trade policies. These practices are a particular feature of EU and US agricultural trade policies and undermine the capacity of poor producers in developing countries to benefit from trade, hampering global efforts to reduce poverty.