Cheekily, perhaps, in view of its own farm bill, Washington has proposed the eventual abolition of all agricultural export subsidies and a limit on domestic farm subsidies of 5% of the value of total domestic production.
The bill contains an inane formula which allows the exportof supercomputers with a performance capability of 25% or less of the average of the two most powerful supercomputers currently available commercially.
The United States has moved to eliminate export subsidies, but under the farm bill which expires in 2007, the vast majority of payments to U.S. growers continue.