U.S. – Australia Relations

US-AUS Free Trade Agreement: What's the Outcome for Grains?

Washington, D.C. — [1] April 2004

Commodity Fact Sheet
April 2004

What’s the Outcome for Grains?

On February 8, 2004, the United States and Australia concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and on February 13, 2004, President Bush notified Congress of the intent of the United States to enter into an FTA with Australia. The FTA contains commitments on most agricultural products and addresses other trade measures between the two countries as well.

Australian Commitments

The current situation . . . Australia does not have any tariffs on imports of wheat, rice, corn, barley, sorghum, or rye oats. However, Australia has state trading enterprises with sole authority to export wheat, rice and grains. To date, Australia has not been willing to negotiate any disciplines in the World Trade Organization (WTO) on state trading enterprises.

With the agreement. . . Australia agreed to work with the United States in the WTO agriculture negotiations to develop disciplines that eliminate restrictions on the right to export.

United States Commitments

The current situation . . . Under the WTO agreement, the U.S. tariff on durum wheat is bound at 0.65 cents/kg, non-durum wheat is bound at 0.35 cents/kg, barley is bound at 0.15cents/kg, corn is bound at 0.05 cents/kg, and sorghum is bound at 0.22 cents/kg. Rye and oats are permitted to enter the U.S. market duty-free.

With the agreement . . . The United States will immediately eliminate its duties on wheat, barley, corn and sorghum. However, Australia is not expected to be competitive in the U.S. market.

Original document from www.fas.usda.gov.

Last update: Monday, 19 November 2007 GMT+1000