WTO members urged to make tariff cuts
Friday, 20 July 2007
Alan Beattie, FT Syndication Service
LONDON: Heads of key negotiating committees in the troubled so-called Doha round of trade talks last Tuesday challenged members of the World Trade Organisation to make hefty cuts in tariffs and subsidies.
Publishing draft agreements for the contentious agricultural and industrial goods talks, the chairs of the committees said differences between member countries were not huge but would require political commitment and courage to overcome.
"This document is intended to take everyone out of their comfort zones," said Crawford Falconer, the New Zealand WTO ambassador who chairs the farm negotiations. "That has to happen if we are ever to get an agreement."
The move follows the breakdown in acrimony of a meeting of the "Group of Four" core negotiating partners in Doha - the European Union, US, Brazil and India - on June 21. Brazil and India accused the US of failing to offer big enough cuts in farm subsidies, while the EU and US said the emerging markets were too defensive on industrial goods tariffs.
Mr Falconer's draft implies cutting the ceiling for US trade-distorting agricultural subsidies to between $13bn (euro9.4bn, £6.5bn) and $16.4bn from current limits of about $22bn. This is above the $10bn-$11bn demanded by Brazil and India but below the $17bn informally floated by the US in talks.
But it left largely open the politically charged issue of "special product" provisions, which permit developing countries to shield particular commodities from cuts in import tariffs. Such loopholes have been targeted by US farmers, who say they undercut liberalisation in the agreement.
The draft industrial goods agreement, written by Don Stephenson, the Canadian WTO ambassador, said developing countries should put a ceiling of 19-23 per cent on their tariffs, well below the 30 per cent the Brazilians and Indians demanded in the G4 meeting, but near the level European business groups say is needed to give real access to their exporters.
Leading partners in the talks, including the EU and US, reacted cautiously to the proposals, though did not reject them out of hand.
Spokesmen for the EU trade and agriculture commissioners said: "Our first reaction is that the texts provide a basis for further work in the Doha round, although there are points on which we have important concerns and other significant issues in the negotiations that are not included in these texts."
Member countries of the WTO, headed by Pascal Lamy, have in effect given up on achieving a draft agreement before its August break, and will convene in the autumn. There remains broad scepticism among officials that any deal is likely to come soon.
LONDON: Heads of key negotiating committees in the troubled so-called Doha round of trade talks last Tuesday challenged members of the World Trade Organisation to make hefty cuts in tariffs and subsidies.
Publishing draft agreements for the contentious agricultural and industrial goods talks, the chairs of the committees said differences between member countries were not huge but would require political commitment and courage to overcome.
"This document is intended to take everyone out of their comfort zones," said Crawford Falconer, the New Zealand WTO ambassador who chairs the farm negotiations. "That has to happen if we are ever to get an agreement."
The move follows the breakdown in acrimony of a meeting of the "Group of Four" core negotiating partners in Doha - the European Union, US, Brazil and India - on June 21. Brazil and India accused the US of failing to offer big enough cuts in farm subsidies, while the EU and US said the emerging markets were too defensive on industrial goods tariffs.
Mr Falconer's draft implies cutting the ceiling for US trade-distorting agricultural subsidies to between $13bn (euro9.4bn, £6.5bn) and $16.4bn from current limits of about $22bn. This is above the $10bn-$11bn demanded by Brazil and India but below the $17bn informally floated by the US in talks.
But it left largely open the politically charged issue of "special product" provisions, which permit developing countries to shield particular commodities from cuts in import tariffs. Such loopholes have been targeted by US farmers, who say they undercut liberalisation in the agreement.
The draft industrial goods agreement, written by Don Stephenson, the Canadian WTO ambassador, said developing countries should put a ceiling of 19-23 per cent on their tariffs, well below the 30 per cent the Brazilians and Indians demanded in the G4 meeting, but near the level European business groups say is needed to give real access to their exporters.
Leading partners in the talks, including the EU and US, reacted cautiously to the proposals, though did not reject them out of hand.
Spokesmen for the EU trade and agriculture commissioners said: "Our first reaction is that the texts provide a basis for further work in the Doha round, although there are points on which we have important concerns and other significant issues in the negotiations that are not included in these texts."
Member countries of the WTO, headed by Pascal Lamy, have in effect given up on achieving a draft agreement before its August break, and will convene in the autumn. There remains broad scepticism among officials that any deal is likely to come soon.