A powerful Republican senator has urged the Biden administration to talk to the Indian government about subsidies to its wheat and rice farmers. He claimed that it was against the norms of the World Trade Organisation. Arkansas Senator John Boozman said during a congressional hearing on the 2023 Farm Bill organized by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry that rice and wheat farmers across the country are severely affected by India's open World Trade Organization violations.

We continue to engage India on this issue in multilateral fora, raising questions at the World Trade Organization, and over the years on counter notifications, said Secretary, USDA Under Secretary Alexis Taylor  Working so that we can actually bring out the truth of their subsidy policy and the foreign farm issue. He was responding to a question from Boozman, who is the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee.

Boozman asked, can you tell us about what you're doing in your partnership with Ambassador McCallip, how are you taking steps to hold India accountable? Is there anything that we can do as a committee or as a Congress to be helpful in that regard? He asked how can we ensure this excessive subsidy hj how can we hold them accountable? 

Taylor said he's been engaging with his team on this topic since he was at the USDA. We have serious concerns and are looking at a number of approaches within multilateral fora to try to bring some resolution and certainty to our rice and wheat producers who are assessing the impact from these subsidies.