Brazil has agreed to postpone trade sanctions on the USA provided it will comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against its cotton export subsidy programme. Brazil will maintain its right to impose sanctions but suspend their application while the USA abolishes the cotton export subsidies deemed illegal by the WTO in March.
At a meeting of the WTO dispute settlement body on July 15, the USA reiterated its intention to implement the WTO ruling, which demanded the abolition of certain cotton sector subsidies by July 1. It drew attention to the steps it had taken to approve changes to the cotton export subsidy programme in front of the Congress. The US-Brazil cotton case corresponds to a value of approximately $3 billion per year.
