While the success of the Hong Kong ministerial depends largely upon the extent of cuts in agricultural subsidies, it's worth keeping in mind that the way the subsidies have been structured, a very large part will continue to remain outside the purview of the cuts since they are in the 'green box' which are supposed to have a minimal trade-distorting effect ""this includes all payments not linked to current production, but includes those made for non-production, income support and regional assistance. The subsidies which will be cut will be the ones in the Amber Box, also called the Aggregate Measure of Support, or AMS. The biggest user of the 'green box' is the US and, between 1995 and 1998, the green box subsidies in the US averaged around 83 per cent of the total domestic support as compared to a figure of 22 per cent for the EU nations.
