Image courtesy of U.S. Wheat Associates.
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) staff traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, in October as part of work to advance U.S. wheat farmers’ interests in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and with WTO member states.
Ryan Olson, USW director of trade policy, joined other U.S. agricultural cooperators for a mission to the WTO to meet with the WTO Deputy Director General, secretariat, as well as delegates from Japan, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Australia and Pakistan.
Established in 1995 following years of negotiations, the WTO is an important forum for transparency and dispute settlement that has helped U.S. wheat growers hold trading partners accountable for unfair policies that violate its rules. The U.S. wheat industry has long benefited from the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules enshrined in WTO commitments, which have helped to address non-tariff trade barriers that are increasingly used by countries to protect their markets. The WTO’s agreement on agriculture has also helped to hold countries accountable for their domestic support and stockholding policies, which continue to distort global markets and be of serious concern for U.S. wheat producers.
Advancing U.S. Wheat Interests in Geneva
The mission was well-timed ahead of the WTO’s 14th biennial Ministerial Conference (MC14), scheduled for March 2026 in Cameroon. As part of bilateral meetings with WTO staff and delegates, USW heard about ongoing negotiations and potential outcomes at the conference, particularly around the disciplines in the organization’s Agreement on Agriculture. U.S. wheat growers have long sought multilateral solutions for opaque public stockholding programs and subsidies that violate WTO rules. WTO members, such as China and India, continue to abuse global trade rules regarding these policies despite ongoing multilateral efforts, led by the U.S., to hold them accountable, including a 2024 counter notification on India’s domestic support policies.
Meetings also included discussions on how to improve the WTO’s SPS agreement to make it more functional and responsive to industry needs and around proposed reforms to organization’s dispute settlement system. The WTO’s dispute settlement body (DSB) has been successfully used in the past by the United States on behalf of its wheat growers, most recently in 2019 when the U.S. notched a victory against China’s market price support and tariff-rate quota administration regime. However, the DSB’s functions and appellate system have been recently called into question, and conversations around improving the system are ongoing. USW has long seen a functioning DSB as one important tool in holding trading partners accountable.
One common theme across USW’s three days of meetings in Geneva was that the WTO is at a crossroads, particularly as some members call for more accountability and commitment to all aspects of the WTO disciplines. As negotiations and reform proposals are considered, USW will continue play an active role to ensure that U.S. wheat farmers interests are represented and that there continues to be accountability in the global trade system.
Read more from USW here.