Australia-Dairy farmers extend protests.

AUSTRALIA-DAIRY FARMERS TAKE CASE TO WASHINGTON.

Australian diplomats have been working hard in Washington in recent days trying to convince the new Obama administration not to follow Europe’s re-introduction of export subsidies for dairy producers.

Late last month the European Union Commission (EC) decided to pay dairy farmers a subsidy to help protect the local industry amidst a slump in global dairy prices.

The move has been slammed by export-oriented nations like Australia and New Zealand as "protectionist" and not in the spirit of the ongoing negotiations with a view to freeing up trade barriers through the long-running Doha round.

Now there is talk that plans, similar to those of the EU, are underway in the United States, with a protectionist-leaning Obama Administration also looking at measures to buffer dairy farmers from the global financial storm.

Just home from trade talks in Davos, Switzerland, on the weekend, Minster for Trade, Simon Crean personally protested to the European Trade Commissioner, Cathy Ashton, about the EC decision, a spokesman said.