European Union even worse than America, says Congress report

By Penny Hawthorne | 28 August 2005

A new study from the US Congressional Budget Office finds that Europe's Common Agricultural Policy distorts world trade even more significantly than American farm studies. According to the London Daily Telegraph:

The report said Europe accounted for almost 90pc of world export subsidies, the worst abuse that leads to the dumping of surplus produce in the developing world. By contrast, the US makes up just 2pc of the total.

The study was carried out by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, known for academic neutrality. It said the EU imposed "extreme tariffs" of over 100pc on 39pc of its entire farm production, compared with 26pc by the US.

The CBO's director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin [pictured], said the usual comparisons showing EU and US farms are roughly equal in volume are highly misleading. "Not all tariffs are created equal; not all subsidies are created equal. For the same dollars, the EU has done much more in the way of distorting subsidies than does the United States."