Lyng conceded that farm aid hurts trading partners.

Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng, speaking in Rome at a United Nations meeting on competition among grain exporters, said U.S. farm subsidies cause problems in other countries just as other countries’ subsidies have caused problems for American farmers. A new round of multilateral trade negotiations, scheduled to start later this year under the international General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, could lead to rules for freer and fairer trade in agriculture, Lyng said.