In 2022, the value of total trade (imports plus exports) of agricultural goods between the EU and the rest of the world was €425 billion (see Figure 1). Since exports (€229 billion) were higher than imports (€196 billion) there was a trade surplus of €33 billion.
This pushes me to doubt that the subsidies are keeping prices lower than a re-optimization for domestic consumption, but they could be preventing such a re-optimization. I think the subsidies could very well exist today because they enable a trade surplus (which also means that imported food is cheap enough for that tradeoff to be profitable).
Do they have export tariffs on food then? I’m genuinely asking, I can only find agriculture related import tariffs after a few minutes of searching. The EU’s only got 1/5 the export of agricultural products of the US by dollar amount, but that’s still a shitload with the comparative population density
by no means are they in any way concerned about ruining the livelihood of global south peasants. They subsidise agriculture for the reason of cheap food and supporting the rural European economy and then to deal with surplus dump unsold food on the market. Like I said they know what they are doing to the global south’s agricultural economy but it isn’t the object of the exercise
it’s also not a practice unique to the EU China does the same thing with steel. A country that wished to protect itself from this would more reasonably put import tariffs on EU food and use this money to subsidise it’s own agriculture than expect the EU to stop a successful program to spread money to rural areas and provide cheap food
That’s not why they do it the livelihoods of peasants in the global south are collateral damage. The intent is cheap food in Europe.
Looking into it I’m seeing this:
This pushes me to doubt that the subsidies are keeping prices lower than a re-optimization for domestic consumption, but they could be preventing such a re-optimization. I think the subsidies could very well exist today because they enable a trade surplus (which also means that imported food is cheap enough for that tradeoff to be profitable).
Do they have export tariffs on food then? I’m genuinely asking, I can only find agriculture related import tariffs after a few minutes of searching. The EU’s only got 1/5 the export of agricultural products of the US by dollar amount, but that’s still a shitload with the comparative population density
by no means are they in any way concerned about ruining the livelihood of global south peasants. They subsidise agriculture for the reason of cheap food and supporting the rural European economy and then to deal with surplus dump unsold food on the market. Like I said they know what they are doing to the global south’s agricultural economy but it isn’t the object of the exercise
it’s also not a practice unique to the EU China does the same thing with steel. A country that wished to protect itself from this would more reasonably put import tariffs on EU food and use this money to subsidise it’s own agriculture than expect the EU to stop a successful program to spread money to rural areas and provide cheap food