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European Union

Doha World Trade Talks Enter Crucial Phase Amid Agricultural Dilemmas

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Efforts to salvage the Doha world trade talks have entered a critical phase, with World Trade Organisation members struggling to hammer out a deal on agriculture while averting threatened rebellion by developing countries. Ministers from the US, the European Union, Brazil, India, and Australia have narrowed some differences at a weekend meeting in Paris, but several have warned that big obstacles remain. The talks face another challenge tomorrow when ministers from the Group of 90 developing countries meet in Mauritius to discuss their stance.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Doha talks are at a critical phase, with less than three weeks left to agree on a negotiating framework for the round.
  • Ministers from the US, the European Union, Brazil, India, and Australia have narrowed some differences on various points, but big obstacles remain.
  • The toughest issue in the talks is agriculture, with France insisting that the EU foreign ministers debate the Doha talks and the EU offering to end export subsidies in exchange for concessions from the US and other countries.
  • The Group of 90 developing countries are meeting in Mauritius to discuss their stance, which could cause African, Caribbean, Pacific, and least-developed countries to harden their position and imperil the round.
  • Trade officials fear that the meeting could lead to a re-run of the collapsed September WTO ministerial talks in Cancun.
  • US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that agreement on an overall package, including agriculture, is necessary to settle the dispute between Washington and African cotton-growing countries over US subsidies.
  • Several ministers at the Paris talks issued thinly veiled warnings that G90 interests would suffer if the round failed.
  • The ministers instructed Tim Groser, New Zealand's WTO ambassador and chairman of the agriculture negotiations, to draw up a draft text by the end of this week.
  • Groser warned in June that the talks could still founder over differences on "parallelism" in lowering export subsidies and over treatment of countries' most highly protected agricultural imports.

Statistics:

  • Less than three weeks left to agree on a negotiating framework for the round
  • 90 developing countries meeting in Mauritius to discuss their stance
  • 12 countries represented at the weekend meeting in Paris (US, EU, Brazil, India, Australia, and 7 unnamed countries)
  • 3 major issues in the talks: agriculture, export subsidies, and treatment of countries' most highly protected agricultural imports
  • G90's demands are considered unrealistic by some trade officials and could undermine progress since the Cancun ministerial talks
  • US and EU offering to end export subsidies in exchange for concessions from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand

Sources:

  • World Trade Organisation members
  • US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick
  • EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy
  • France's foreign ministers
  • G90 ministers meeting in Mauritius
  • Tim Groser, New Zealand's WTO ambassador and chairman of the agriculture negotiations
  • Trade officials and diplomats quoted in the article.

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