Keep domestic politics out of trade talks: Lamy
Thursday, 6 December 2007
GENEVA, Dec 5 (Reuters): Politicians should not rely on international trade talks to cope with domestic disruptions stemming from globalisation, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy said yesterday.
Lamy said it was up to individual countries to ensure that their national policies, from education to taxes, helped those suffering job losses or other pains from expanded free trade.
The WTO for its part could help ensure that the benefits of trade opening-including higher economic output-are shared fairly between rich and poor nations, he told a news briefing on the launch of the 2007 World Trade Report.
"I'm of the view ... that trade opening is efficient and that opening more trade means creating more wealth," Lamy said, stressing that countries must decide for themselves how to cope with economic shifts resulting from a new global pact.
"We've got to make a distinction and make sure that within the political debate trade is not saddled with issues of a very domestic nature," he said.
US Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton was quoted Monday as saying that she would question whether to revive the WTO's Doha round of trade talks if elected. She has previously attacked trade deals that do not include measures to protect workers and enforce environmental standards.
Lamy said it was only natural that debate over the merits of free trade would heat up during an election campaign, such as the 2008 US race. He stressed it was important to wrap up the six-year-old Doha round, intended to update trade rules and make global commerce more fair, for the sake of global diplomacy.
Last week the WTO's 151 member states agreed to aim to finish the round by the end of next year.
The organisation's latest World Trade Report surveyed international trade relations over the past 60 years, and suggested that protectionist policies contributed to the outbreak of World War Two.
"We may forget the lessons of history at our peril," Lamy said.
The WTO chief said he did not believe that current economic stresses, including the weak US dollar and high energy prices, would prove to be obstacles to concluding the Doha round.
They could, however, influence the positions countries take in the talks on cutting tariffs and subsidies on agricultural products, manufactured goods and cross-border services, he said.
The international trade rules now in force derive from the WTO's Uruguay round of talks, initiated in 1985. If the Doha round is agreed next year, implementation would probably start in 2010 and finish for some developing countries in 2020.
Meanwhile, India and Brazil criticised two new sets of proposals in the Doha round of trade talks at the WTO yesterday, signalling that wide gaps in the negotiations remain despite recent progress.
The two developing countries, who play a major role in the talks, said that a US-EU proposal to free up trade in environmental goods was little more than a disguised attempt to boost sales of goods of rich nations.
They also said a negotiating text on "rules"-anti-dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies-was a step backwards that excessively accommodated US concerns.
India also expressed alarm that the key agriculture talks were tilting too much towards the needs of rich countries and were ignoring the requirements of the sub-continent's millions of subsistence farmers.
India has been committed to the Doha talks, launched six years ago and now aiming for conclusion next year, said India's WTO ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia.
"But if, God forbid, a time comes when that price of engagement is unpayable by us, then we will have to stand up and say that," he said.
The United States and the European Union launched a proposal in the long-running Doha talks last Friday to counter climate change by eliminating tariffs on 43 climate-friendly goods and setting up a wider agreement on environmental goods and services for developed and advanced developing countries.
"We don't think it's a basis for negotiation on environmental products," said Brazil's top trade negotiator, Roberto Azevedo. "Brazil is deeply disappointed with the proposal. We find the proposal modest, we find it biased and we find it protectionist," he told a briefing.
Lamy said it was up to individual countries to ensure that their national policies, from education to taxes, helped those suffering job losses or other pains from expanded free trade.
The WTO for its part could help ensure that the benefits of trade opening-including higher economic output-are shared fairly between rich and poor nations, he told a news briefing on the launch of the 2007 World Trade Report.
"I'm of the view ... that trade opening is efficient and that opening more trade means creating more wealth," Lamy said, stressing that countries must decide for themselves how to cope with economic shifts resulting from a new global pact.
"We've got to make a distinction and make sure that within the political debate trade is not saddled with issues of a very domestic nature," he said.
US Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton was quoted Monday as saying that she would question whether to revive the WTO's Doha round of trade talks if elected. She has previously attacked trade deals that do not include measures to protect workers and enforce environmental standards.
Lamy said it was only natural that debate over the merits of free trade would heat up during an election campaign, such as the 2008 US race. He stressed it was important to wrap up the six-year-old Doha round, intended to update trade rules and make global commerce more fair, for the sake of global diplomacy.
Last week the WTO's 151 member states agreed to aim to finish the round by the end of next year.
The organisation's latest World Trade Report surveyed international trade relations over the past 60 years, and suggested that protectionist policies contributed to the outbreak of World War Two.
"We may forget the lessons of history at our peril," Lamy said.
The WTO chief said he did not believe that current economic stresses, including the weak US dollar and high energy prices, would prove to be obstacles to concluding the Doha round.
They could, however, influence the positions countries take in the talks on cutting tariffs and subsidies on agricultural products, manufactured goods and cross-border services, he said.
The international trade rules now in force derive from the WTO's Uruguay round of talks, initiated in 1985. If the Doha round is agreed next year, implementation would probably start in 2010 and finish for some developing countries in 2020.
Meanwhile, India and Brazil criticised two new sets of proposals in the Doha round of trade talks at the WTO yesterday, signalling that wide gaps in the negotiations remain despite recent progress.
The two developing countries, who play a major role in the talks, said that a US-EU proposal to free up trade in environmental goods was little more than a disguised attempt to boost sales of goods of rich nations.
They also said a negotiating text on "rules"-anti-dumping, subsidies and fisheries subsidies-was a step backwards that excessively accommodated US concerns.
India also expressed alarm that the key agriculture talks were tilting too much towards the needs of rich countries and were ignoring the requirements of the sub-continent's millions of subsistence farmers.
India has been committed to the Doha talks, launched six years ago and now aiming for conclusion next year, said India's WTO ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia.
"But if, God forbid, a time comes when that price of engagement is unpayable by us, then we will have to stand up and say that," he said.
The United States and the European Union launched a proposal in the long-running Doha talks last Friday to counter climate change by eliminating tariffs on 43 climate-friendly goods and setting up a wider agreement on environmental goods and services for developed and advanced developing countries.
"We don't think it's a basis for negotiation on environmental products," said Brazil's top trade negotiator, Roberto Azevedo. "Brazil is deeply disappointed with the proposal. We find the proposal modest, we find it biased and we find it protectionist," he told a briefing.