Date: July 31, 2002 Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S Description: The
European Union (EU), comprised of 15 member states (countries),
is one of the United States’ chief agricultural trading partners
and also a major competitor in world markets. Both heavily
support their agricultural sectors, with a large share of such
support concentrated on wheat, feed grains, cotton, oilseeds,
sugar, dairy, and tobacco. However, the EU provides more
extensive support to a broader range of farm and food products.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), the EU and United States in 2001 together
accounted for nearly two-thirds of all government support to
agriculture among the major developed economies. However, EU
agricultural spending generally is much higher than in the
United States. Information comparing how the U.S. and EU
governments support their producers is expected to be of
interest to policymakers while negotiations are underway among
world trading partners to further reform agric