Reborn Russia As An Oligarch Chapter 1046

Chapter 1046: Stick to the bottom line

Logically speaking, how big can the agricultural product market be? It's not like Da Mao doesn't produce food itself. Even if the food from the United States is cheap, how much can it sell?

But the United States has been insisting on this condition. Other conditions can be negotiated, but in terms of agriculture, Da Mao must be allowed to let go.

Most people may think that it is because old American politicians are doing it for votes.

After all, American farmers are a very powerful force, and ordinary politicians do not dare to offend them. They must strive for the interests of farmers as much as possible.

But Wang Ye understands that things are definitely not that simple!

As he once explained to the Kremlin, the agricultural issue is of great importance. To put it more seriously, it is related to the life and death of a country!

Don't think Wang Ye is alarmist, this is fact.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and agriculture has long become the strategic "weapon" of the United States!

Behind every food crisis in the world, the United States is indispensable.

With a strategic location, sitting on the broadest plain in North America, coupled with unique climate conditions, American agriculture has already won at the starting line.

Coupled with the improvement of the level of mechanization and the protection of the local area from the interference of war, the United States became the world's largest food exporter as early as the last century!

For decades, until now, the United States still holds this throne.

According to data, in 2005, the United States' grain export production accounted for 25% of the world's total grain exports, selling nearly 200 million tons of grain to nearly 100 countries around the world!

The main crops are corn, wheat, sorghum, and soybeans.

Soybeans and corn are the "trump cards" in the hands of Lao America. 70% of the countries in the world import from Lao America and rely on them.

You must know that the world has never been peaceful, and not everyone can have enough food and clothing. At any time, a large number of people around the world will not have enough to eat, or even starve to death!

After World War II, the widespread use of agricultural machinery, the cultivation of hybrid seeds, and the use of nitrogen fertilizers greatly increased crop yields in the United States.

But because the country is strong and the income of the American people has become higher, the diet structure has changed.

If you have money, who doesn't want to eat something good...

As a result, in their daily diet, everyone reduced their intake of bread and increased their intake of meat, poultry and dairy products. Because of changes in eating habits, American families consume fewer grains on a daily basis.

As a result, the sales volume of agricultural and sideline products such as flour began to decline.

With a sharp increase in production and a sharp decline in sales, a large amount of surplus will naturally be generated.

A large surplus of grain will further depress the price of agricultural products, leading to losses and bankruptcy for agricultural practitioners.

How to solve this surplus of food? The top people in American politics held a meeting to discuss this matter and proposed a solution.

I have to say that during that period, real talents emerged in large numbers in the United States, and there were also elites in the political arena!

The method that old American politicians came up with is to "exchange food for peace"!

At that time, people in many countries around the world were starving because their agriculture was not as developed as that of the United States. In addition, wars in many places had not yet ended, so the famine problem was even more serious.

The United States will use its surplus food to provide it to countries with "united front value" at low prices or even free of charge.

President Eisenhower said in a speech: "I am taking steps, in conjunction with other surplus-producing nations, to rediscover every possible means of utilizing the various agricultural surpluses of every nation for the purpose of strengthening the peace and friendship of the peoples of the world. welfare—in short, food for peace.”

　　Doesn't it sound very touching? It is simply a boundless love!

But is Lao Mei really so good-natured?

Not necessarily!

First of all, the words "People of the United States of America" will be specially marked on the outer packaging of the food they sell or support.

At the same time, local governments will be required to issue promotional slogans and brochures in local languages to explain that these foods come from the United States.

If this is just the case, then there is nothing wrong with it. After all, it is considered a good deed, and it is understandable that you want a good reputation.

But the plan of the United States is obviously not that simple.

Their support is also divided into targets, such as Africa, which is definitely the most famine-stricken area.

However, the United States provides very little food support to Africa. They do not choose countries that need emergency assistance, but those that are conducive to American ideology.

˜Through long-term support, low-price dumping and other means, the United States has begun to control the food lifeline of many countries around the world, as well as global food pricing power!

Three major agricultural product futures exchanges have been established in China. Behind every global food crisis, the three exchanges have played a significant role.

It's just not a good effect, but it is to push up food prices wantonly during food crises, hoard food, and make huge profits.

Someone may want to say that since the agricultural product futures exchange is publicly traded and everyone in every country can participate, then other countries can also participate through the futures exchange.

If you think so, I can only say that you are still too naive.

Wall Street capital is "fighting local operations", and they are all joining forces with large domestic farmers, and they have huge amounts of funds and huge amounts of food in their hands.

Whoever dares to play against them will be beaten to death in minutes.

As far as Wang Ye knows, after so many years in his previous life, only one country has been able to compete with the United States in terms of food prices after it became stronger.

Of course, with Wang Ye's participation in this life, plus his early awareness of the importance of food, and his vigorous efforts to integrate all the resources of the CIS countries in the agricultural field, in a few years he might be able to compete with Laos and the United States in the field of food. The price is a big deal, but that's another story.

Now that the United States is taking advantage of Mao's desire to join the WTO, it really wants to attack Mao in agriculture.

They probably also know that Da Mao has begun to attach importance to agricultural development. The later it liberalizes the agricultural products field, the harder it will be for the major grain merchants in the United States to control Da Mao's agriculture.

So, in fact, the United States is now more anxious than Mao to let Mao join the WTO...

However, as a hard condition for joining the WTO, Damao still must liberalize the agricultural sector and allow foreign investment to enter.

Wang Ye can agree to this in principle. After all, joining the WTO cannot only bring benefits without making any contribution. The benefits are all exchanged.

However, opening up must be conditional and must be carried out in stages!

It is impossible to liberalize all aspects as soon as we join the WTO and allow foreign capital to enter unconditionally in all industries and fields. In that case, the domestic economy will really be in chaos.

Certain unimportant and insensitive industries can be directly liberalized without any restrictions.

But some industries will be liberalized step by step, with a little liberalization every year, and it will take a few years for them to be fully liberalized.

This is also very simple. For example, when agricultural products first joined the WTO, imported agricultural products were subject to a 50% tariff. In this way, if agricultural products from the United States were to be sold to Damao, there would be no price advantage, and the development of local agriculture could be protected. .

Then tariffs will be reduced by 2% every year, and tariffs will be zero after 25 years!

It can be regarded as giving a buffer period for domestic agricultural development.

As for certain industries that are related to national security issues, they cannot be let go at any time!

The negotiations with the EU are a bit more complicated, because some member states within the EU do not approve of Mauritius joining the WTO and deliberately set up obstacles.

However, several leading countries in the EU, especially France and Germany, still agree with Mauritius to join the WTO. They just want to take the opportunity to make Mauritius make more concessions.

Their demands are mainly focused on energy. They want to get cheap and stable energy supply from Damao, especially natural gas!

Since 2000, the EU has been negotiating with China on energy supply issues. After several years of back and forth, a large framework has been basically negotiated, which is the so-called "Nord Stream Pipeline".

In fact, during the former Soviet Union, China had a pipeline to transport natural gas to Europe. The pipeline passed through Uzbekistan, then to Austria and Romania, and then spread to other countries in Western Europe.

However, the transmission capacity of this pipeline is limited, and it is obviously dwarfed by the natural gas needs of so many countries.

Even Uzbekistan's own needs account for most of the pipeline's transmission capacity!

Hence, the need to build a new pipeline is urgent.

The newly proposed "Nord Stream Pipeline" plan is to start from the Viborg area in Damao, directly cross the Baltic Sea, go under the sea the whole way, and reach the Greifswald area in Germany.

This is a "point-to-point" direct supply service, there is no middleman to make the difference!

In addition, this North Stream pipeline plan is divided into two phases and is very large-scale.

Once completed, it will fully meet the natural gas needs of many Western European countries. This is a win-win choice.

The rich natural gas resources in Damao can be sold, in exchange for a large amount of foreign exchange, which can be used to invest in domestic infrastructure, support the development of other industries, and improve people's livelihood issues.

Western Europe has received a stable and cheap supply of natural gas, no longer having to bear expensive energy costs, and it can also promote the redevelopment of their industries.

Because natural gas is not only used for residential purposes, but also for industrial use. Large amounts of natural gas are also needed.

Of course, although both sides know that whether the Nord Stream pipeline plan can be signed will directly affect whether the EU supports Mauritius's accession to the WTO.

But no one would say it openly.

So, whether the Beixi Pipeline plan can be finalized before the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference is held will directly affect whether Mao Mao can successfully join the WTO this year!

Wang Ye also knows this well.

The current disagreement between the two parties lies in how much money each party has invested in this pipeline and how many shares they hold!

Referring to the super oil and gas contract negotiated between Wang Ye and China last time, the Russian side naturally hopes that the German side will fully advance the funds to build the pipeline, and then the Russian side will control the pipeline company and the German side will pay the natural gas fee every year.

But the German side is not as easy to talk to as the Chinese side. They require that the pipeline construction funds be equally shared by both parties, and then both parties will jointly hold shares and jointly manage the pipeline company!

So the two sides were deadlocked at this point, and they could not reach an agreement after several years of talks.

The negotiations for the Nord Stream pipeline have been led by the government in the past, with Gazprom and the Natural Gas Pipeline Group participating, and have nothing to do with Wang Ye.

But it is different now, because whether this cooperation can be negotiated is directly related to the subsequent WTO accession negotiations.

Therefore, Wang Ye forcefully "took" the leadership of the negotiations from the government and replaced it with himself to lead the direction of the negotiations. Although the government had some complaints, it was hard to say anything.

It is because they are not capable enough that they have not been able to negotiate cooperation.

Coupled with Meddev's relationship with Wang Ye, he, the number one figure in the government, didn't say anything, and the people below him were naturally speechless.

After frowning and thinking for a moment, Wang Ye ordered: "Our bottom line must be adhered to, but we can make concessions on less important aspects. When negotiating with the German side, the controlling stake in the pipeline company will not matter at all." It has to be discussed. I must be the controlling shareholder. But the funds invested in the pipeline construction can be negotiated. The maximum concession is that each party should pay half!"

In fact, Wang Ye is not short of money now, and Gazprom is not short of money either. Even if the construction of the pipeline is entirely funded by Russia, there will be no problem at all.

After all, even if Germany fully advances the funds to build the pipeline, this cost will be deducted from future natural gas costs, just like the terms of the original Sino-Russian oil and gas contract.

But this is not how business is negotiated, and the situations between China and Germany are completely different...

This also involves a hidden problem, that is, the construction cycle of this kind of pipeline can often be three to five years, and the timeline is very long.

What should we do if the situation changes during the construction period and one party regrets it?

Damao will naturally not go back on his words. After all, he is the party selling natural gas, and there is no situation where he has money but does not want to make it.

But the German side cannot guarantee it. What if a few years later, when the pipeline is almost repaired, the German side suddenly says that it will not buy large quantities of natural gas.

Don't say it's impossible, this kind of thing is actually not uncommon.

After all, countries in Western Europe have so-called electoral systems. No one knows whether the people who cooperate with you now will be elected in the next term.

What if he loses the election in the next term, and then someone from the hostile faction comes up and directly wants to overturn all the contracts and agreements signed by his predecessor?

That Da Mao who fully funded the construction of the pipeline was dumbfounded...

Therefore, the best and safest way is to let Germany fully invest, at least half of the money, to build the pipeline. In this way, tens of billions or even tens of billions of dollars in real money have been poured in. Even if Germany in the future If there are any changes in Fang's political arena, there is a high probability that his successor will not joke about so much money...

Even if the successor dares, we have to ask the German companies that invested in the early stage if they agree!

(End of this chapter)

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