Washington Insider -- Friday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Obama Plans Involved in Power Plant Emissions Proposal

The Environmental Protection Agency currently is completing work on proposed carbon-emissions rules for power plants, with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy saying earlier this week that the agency expects to publish the proposal by June 2.

It seems the White House plans to give the rules a high profile as sources tell news outlets that President Obama plans to personally unveil the rules. The president's participation in the announcement will help demonstrate the administration's commitment to combatting global climate change by adopting stricter regulations regarding emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Power companies and coal producers are bracing for the EPA rules to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, while environmental groups are pushing EPA to impose strict limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from the plants. Both sides will have time to comment on the proposed rules after the president formally issues them early next month.

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SNAP Enrollment Continues to Shrink

The number of Americans receiving benefits under the federal Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) continues to fall, a trend that was expected once the economy began to improve. In 2008, before the economic crisis, 28.2 million Americans received SNAP benefits, a number that jumped by nearly 20 million over the next few years. The latest USDA data indicate that more than 1.2 million people left the program between October and February.

As of February, the most recent data available, 46.2 million Americans received SNAP benefits, the lowest level since August 2011 and down from the March 2013 peak of 47.7 million people. The $5.8 billion in benefits paid out in February was the lowest level since at least 2010.

The falling SNAP enrollment numbers will be welcomed by members of Congress from both parties, Democrats because it indicates that fewer people require federal assistance to feed themselves, and Republicans because the cost of the program will drop in tandem with falling enrollment.

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Washington Insider: Role for WTO in Russian Sanctions?

Russia has been a member of the World Trade Organization only since August 2012, following a nearly two-decade long negotiation process that included numerous setbacks and disagreements. The decision by the European Union and the United States in 2011 to back Russia's entry was seen as key toward advancing Moscow's bid in the final stages.

Now, a key geopolitical question is how important the WTO can be in upping the ante for Russia's activism in Ukraine. The result is an unusual trade debate as Russia comes under increasingly heavy criticism from several of its trading partners who are raising "sharp questions" over whether Moscow is adhering to the international trade commitments that it took less than two years ago.

At a meeting last week of the WTO's General Council, the organization's highest decision-making body outside of its ministerial conferences, 11 members spoke out against what they said were potential Russian violations of international trade law. For example, the United States worked hard to support Russia's accession to the WTO, "believing that having Russia as part of the rules-based global trading system would benefit all," U.S. Ambassador Michael Punke told the group.

"But at this point we are very concerned, both with what appears to be a lack of seriousness on the part of Russia in implementing some of its WTO accession commitments and, in fact, a general rejection by Russia of one of the underlying goals of the WTO: the reduction of barriers to global trade, acutely demonstrated by recent trade actions aimed at members particularly reliant on trade with Russia," the U.S. official added.

The EU, which had placed the issue of Russia's trade restrictions on the meeting agenda, had similar qualms. Russia is the EU's third largest trading partner, and the EU is Russia's largest.

"We expect Russia to change gears so that its membership to WTO becomes an asset to the whole organization, not just to Russia alone," according to EU Ambassador Angelos Pangratis. Currently, the EU and Russia are engaged in several disputes at the WTO, over topics ranging from the EU's Third Energy Package to Russia's ban on imported pork products from the bloc. Japan has also filed its own complaint against Russia, on a recycling fee on imported vehicles that is also being challenged by the EU.

Observers also note that other members that raised concerns over Russian trade practices included Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway, Korea, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, and Ukraine, among others.

Among the criticisms brought forward last week were Russia's use of trade remedies; insufficient notifications to WTO bodies of its trade measures; alleged import restrictions and local content requirements; unexplained border delays; lack of implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade commitments; and questions of whether Moscow is implementing some tariffs above their "bound" rates, the ceilings it agreed to when joining the organization.

Still, Russia's asserted that it was open to constructive dialogue even as it defended its dedication toward implementing its trade commitments. In addition, Russia highlighted allegedly trade-restrictive measures being taken by some of its partners, primarily the United States and EU that have been imposed on Moscow in recent months in the Ukraine crisis fall-out.

These referred specifically to measures that Russia says is affecting its banking sector –– such as travel bans and asset freezes –– among other areas. In turn, those countries said that they were taking their WTO obligations quite seriously, and that any measures taken are in line with international trade rules.

So, Russia continues to challenge Ukraine's links to the West in the press, in areas of Ukraine and the Crimea and in international trade forums. The conflict is extremely complicated and difficult to interpret, but the stakes are high and many of the institutions involved relatively weak.

Clearly, Russia's beginning tenure as a WTO member will be tense and confrontational, and should be watched carefully as this "trade" debate continues, Washington Insider believes.

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