WTO Ministers Make Last-Ditch Effort to Rescue Global Trade Pact

Strategic Insights -

Ministers made a final push to salvage the global trade pact, working tirelessly to resolve disagreements on ending farm export subsidies and boosting the exports of impoverished nations. Diplomats warned that failure to resolve these issues before the negotiations conclude on Sunday would severely limit the chances of a deal next year, hampering global trade in farm and industrial goods and services. Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi referred to the possible collapse of the talks as "another Cancun situation," reminiscent of the acrimonious collapse of the Doha trade round at the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, two years ago.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EU and the US are at odds over ending farm export subsidies, with the EU refusing to agree to reforms of their farm export systems without reforms from other countries.
  • A draft text proposed setting 2010 as the date for ending farm export subsidies, but it was left in brackets, indicating it may be deleted.
  • The US has resisted demands to give duty-free and "free access" to goods from many of the world's least-developed countries.
  • The relief group ActionAid criticized the EU for its deal in Brussels on its long-term budget, which critics argue would give the EU's Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, less leverage to make concessions in Hong Kong.
  • France has insisted that the level of agricultural payments must remain pegged until 2013, leading to tensions in the negotiations.
  • South Korean protesters demonstrated outside the EU consulate in Hong Kong, calling for the EU to reform its agricultural subsidy regime.

Statistics:

  • 149 WTO member states are party to the negotiations.
  • 100 South Korean protesters demonstrated outside the EU consulate in Hong Kong.
  • The WTO had already lowered its expectations for the negotiations due to a continuing impasse.
  • The deadline for the Doha round to be finished is 2006.
  • US President George W. Bush may lose his Congressional authority to negotiate trade deals after 2006.

Sources:

  • Reuters
  • ActionAid
  • World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • American Farm Bureau Federation
  • The US Department of Trade
  • The European Union
  • The South Korean government