CAIRNS GROUP JOINS IN CRITICISM OF US FARM BILL In a joint statement issued on 15 May, the Cairns Group — consisting of eighteen agricultural exporting nations — strongly criticised the new US farm bill, warning that it would "hurt farmers around the world [...] particularly damaging on developing countries — net food exporters and importers alike — many of which are heavily reliant on their agricultural sectors for their economic development." The statement furthermore called on the US to renew the commitment stated in the Doha Ministerial Declaration to negotiate on the "reduction of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies". The Group also said that the farm bill would be "damaging to the international economy and [it] could undermine efforts to achieve global reforms of this heavily subsidised and distorted sector". The US farm bill signed by George W. Bush on 13 May is expected to raise total US agricultural subsidies to US$ 180 billion over ten years due to increases in subsidy rates for grain and cotton growers and reintroduces subsidies for wool and honey producers and new payments for milk, peanuts, lentils and dry peas. Several WTO Member States have already reacted sharply to the bill, among others the EC as well as Mercosur — the largest trading bloc of agricultural exporting countries in Latin America (see BRIDGES Weekly, 15 May 2002). "International Agricultural Trade Group Criticizes US Farm Bill," AP, 15 May 2002; ICTSD Internal Files.