Global trade talks: China gaining ground
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Fazle Rashid from New York
China will henceforth call the shots in the global economy and not the US or the EU. There was a general consensus about this in Geneva where the WTO is wrangling over the Doha round. The negotiations have so far remained inconclusive and the possibility of reaching an agreement is becoming dimmer with every passing day.
The key players in the talks, the US and EU on one side and China and India on the other, are at the moment engaged in mutual recriminations. Both sides are accusing each other for the stalemate which is persisting since 2001. The US did not hide its annoyance and anger in Geneva and gave China and India a good dressing down accusing the latter of throwing the talks into gravest jeopardy in its nearly seven year life. India was roundly criticised for rejecting the package offered by Pascal Lamy, director general of the WTO.
China was given a good pasting for turning its face against its own proposals. Susan Schwab, trade representative of the United States without naming any country said 'I am very concerned it will jeopardise the outcome of this round'. The US and the EU did not feel shy to say that the talks are doomed to fail. China's ambassador to the WTO did not share the pessimism and said ' china has tried very hard to contribute to the success of the round'. China has begun to throw its weight around and there was evidence of this in abundance in Geneva where negotiations are going on for more than two weeks now.
The Chinese trade minister Chen Deming who studied at the Kennedy school of government at the Harvard learned all his negotiating skills in America. China is trying to shield farm products from competition and delay reducing tariffs. It will continue to do so as it had resisted American pressure to revise upward the value of its currency.
Global trade talks have so long been steered by the US, the EU, Canada and Japan. But the balance of power in global trade has irrevocably shifted to China, the New York Times in a report said. Brazil and Argentina two economic powerhouse of South America refrained themselves from taking sides fearing they would be swamped by China. There are millions of farmers in China whose earnings are as paltry as $2 a day. China wants to protect the interest of cotton, sugar and rice growers. China's proposal has won wide support at Geneva. The United States with the help of India is trying to reverse the outcome China helped to shape.
The WTO is going the way of other multilateral bodies like the WB, the IMF and the ADB, all more or less infructuous bodies. This is the general opinion in the US and Europe. A breakdown of the negotiations on the Doha round would weaken the WTO when world needs a credible international body to mediate trade disputes. If world's richest nations give into the temptation of protectionism, the world's poorest nations will suffer the most. But no one including the rich nations will escape the damage to the global economy, is what the New York Times wrote in an editorial recently.
China will henceforth call the shots in the global economy and not the US or the EU. There was a general consensus about this in Geneva where the WTO is wrangling over the Doha round. The negotiations have so far remained inconclusive and the possibility of reaching an agreement is becoming dimmer with every passing day.
The key players in the talks, the US and EU on one side and China and India on the other, are at the moment engaged in mutual recriminations. Both sides are accusing each other for the stalemate which is persisting since 2001. The US did not hide its annoyance and anger in Geneva and gave China and India a good dressing down accusing the latter of throwing the talks into gravest jeopardy in its nearly seven year life. India was roundly criticised for rejecting the package offered by Pascal Lamy, director general of the WTO.
China was given a good pasting for turning its face against its own proposals. Susan Schwab, trade representative of the United States without naming any country said 'I am very concerned it will jeopardise the outcome of this round'. The US and the EU did not feel shy to say that the talks are doomed to fail. China's ambassador to the WTO did not share the pessimism and said ' china has tried very hard to contribute to the success of the round'. China has begun to throw its weight around and there was evidence of this in abundance in Geneva where negotiations are going on for more than two weeks now.
The Chinese trade minister Chen Deming who studied at the Kennedy school of government at the Harvard learned all his negotiating skills in America. China is trying to shield farm products from competition and delay reducing tariffs. It will continue to do so as it had resisted American pressure to revise upward the value of its currency.
Global trade talks have so long been steered by the US, the EU, Canada and Japan. But the balance of power in global trade has irrevocably shifted to China, the New York Times in a report said. Brazil and Argentina two economic powerhouse of South America refrained themselves from taking sides fearing they would be swamped by China. There are millions of farmers in China whose earnings are as paltry as $2 a day. China wants to protect the interest of cotton, sugar and rice growers. China's proposal has won wide support at Geneva. The United States with the help of India is trying to reverse the outcome China helped to shape.
The WTO is going the way of other multilateral bodies like the WB, the IMF and the ADB, all more or less infructuous bodies. This is the general opinion in the US and Europe. A breakdown of the negotiations on the Doha round would weaken the WTO when world needs a credible international body to mediate trade disputes. If world's richest nations give into the temptation of protectionism, the world's poorest nations will suffer the most. But no one including the rich nations will escape the damage to the global economy, is what the New York Times wrote in an editorial recently.