Archived press release

Gm trade war accelerates

20 June 2003

Yesterday's decision of the Bush US administration to go for a full blown WTO dispute settlement case against the EU's de facto GM moratorium was condemned by Friends of the Earth.

Consultations between the EU, US and Argentina were held behind closed doors at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva yesterday. Immediately following the talks the US announced that the consultation with the European Commission had failed. The US will now move forward with requesting a panel (1).

The decision means the US will now aim to obtain a ruling by the powerful and undemocratic World Trade Organisation forcing the EU to lift its de facto moratorium on genetically modified crops. If Europe fails to lift the moratorium, the WTO could also grant the US the right to impose several hundred million dollars in trade sanctions on EU products (2).

The EU has so far stood firm arguing for the "need for a rigorous regulatory framework" based on environmental, health, animal welfare and ethical grounds, stating that "the EU will always aim at responding to the legitimate interests of its citizens, not to narrow economic interests".

The escalation of the dispute comes ahead of the EU-US summit next week, originally intended to solve, rather than increase, transatlantic tensions. Governments are also in the midst of preparing a joint agenda for the next WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in September in Mexico.

Friends of the Earth GM Campaigner Pete Riley said:

"The US decision to attack the right of countries to regulate the trade in GM is bully-boy undemocratic behaviour. The corporate-led US administration wants to force feed GM food to Europe and the rest of the world. The WTO is not the right place to decide what people should eat. Environmentalists, farmers and consumers around the world will resist the Bush administration and the WTO."

Notes

(1) Richard Mills, spokesman for the US trade representative, announced this to journalists yesterday, see FT, Transatlantic rift heads to WTO, 20 July,

(2) Previous cases have included the so-called hormone beef and bananas case, where the US threatened more than US$500 million worth of unilateral trade sanctions on EU products. The sectors targeted have nothing to do with the original complaints. In the past they included mustard, cheese, truffles and other gourmet products, pork and other meat exports, canned tomatoes and fruit juices and have hit often small business. For a background briefing on the dispute see:
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/wto_disputes_res_mech.pdf (PDF†)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust