World Trade Organization |   CancunTalks Break Down Between Richer And Poore...

World Trade Organization

  CancunTalks Break Down Between Richer And Poorer Nations

The WTO trade talks in Cancun appear to have collapsed after trade groups representing developed and developing nations failed to reach common ground on key issues over the weekend. USMEF Vice President, Trade Development Richard Fritz, who is attending the WTO meeting as a U.S. advisor, conveyed the following observations from Cancun:

“The WTO Ministerial ended on Sunday afternoon with no agreement reached. After a Meeting of Ministers it was determined that no progress could be made due, for the most part, on actions (or lack of action) on the part of numerous African nations and the G-23 group. The G-23, previously known as the G-21 and G-22, is the evolving trade group representing developing nations. It includes (in part): Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Colombia, Thailand, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Morocco, Guatemala, China, Argentina, Philippines, Pakistan, Turkey, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela,

“It is uncertain where this weekend’s result leaves future WTO negotiations and the future of U.S. FTAs with a number of countries and regions. Other Ministerial have ended in failure (Montreal Brussels and Seattle) and negotiations were reinvigorated at a later date. In an attempt to begin the meeting of Ministers on a positive note, the Sunday talks started with the four ‘Singapore’ issues.  These include: Trade Facilitation, Transparency in Government Purchases, Trade and Competition Policy, and Trade and Investment.  The first two were considered to be non-controversial and could be easily agreed upon.  It turned out, however, that even these issues were being objected to by several nations, leading to concerns that far more contentious issues (such as agriculture) were unlikely to be resolved.

"As for agriculture, several provisions remained of concern to U.S. agricultural producers and exporters. Of particular concern was the text leniency in how developing nations were given broad special and differential treatment on issues of market access, export competition and domestic support. These included the ability of countries to get around a proposed tariff cap. Given that countries ‘self-declare’ if they are to be considered ‘developing,’ some nations - such as Korea who still claim developing status - would be exempt from implementing various market access provisions. Japan and other nations could also have used a clause in the draft text to limit the importation of agricultural products.

“On the other side, developing nations (the G-23) led by Brazil continued to object to the text in saying that the developed nations needed to further limit domestic supports, export subsidies and increase market access, while developing nations had little or no room to provide grater market access to products from developed nations. Developing nations were also seeking ‘special agricultural safeguards (SSM).'

“Other issues that were to be addressed in Cancun include Non-Agricultural Market Access, Services, Geographical Indicators, and Intellectual Property. Many other issues remain unresolved due to the lack of agreement in Cancun.”

USMEF will update additional news on the WTO trade talks here as it becomes available.

World Trade Organization

  CancunTalks Break Down Between Richer And Poorer Nations

The WTO trade talks in Cancun appear to have collapsed after trade groups representing developed and developing nations failed to reach common ground on key issues over the weekend. USMEF Vice President, Trade Development Richard Fritz, who is attending the WTO meeting as a U.S. advisor, conveyed the following observations from Cancun:

“The WTO Ministerial ended on Sunday afternoon with no agreement reached. After a Meeting of Ministers it was determined that no progress could be made due, for the most part, on actions (or lack of action) on the part of numerous African nations and the G-23 group. The G-23, previously known as the G-21 and G-22, is the evolving trade group representing developing nations. It includes (in part): Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Colombia, Thailand, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Morocco, Guatemala, China, Argentina, Philippines, Pakistan, Turkey, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela,

“It is uncertain where this weekend’s result leaves future WTO negotiations and the future of U.S. FTAs with a number of countries and regions. Other Ministerial have ended in failure (Montreal Brussels and Seattle) and negotiations were reinvigorated at a later date. In an attempt to begin the meeting of Ministers on a positive note, the Sunday talks started with the four ‘Singapore’ issues.  These include: Trade Facilitation, Transparency in Government Purchases, Trade and Competition Policy, and Trade and Investment.  The first two were considered to be non-controversial and could be easily agreed upon.  It turned out, however, that even these issues were being objected to by several nations, leading to concerns that far more contentious issues (such as agriculture) were unlikely to be resolved.

"As for agriculture, several provisions remained of concern to U.S. agricultural producers and exporters. Of particular concern was the text leniency in how developing nations were given broad special and differential treatment on issues of market access, export competition and domestic support. These included the ability of countries to get around a proposed tariff cap. Given that countries ‘self-declare’ if they are to be considered ‘developing,’ some nations - such as Korea who still claim developing status - would be exempt from implementing various market access provisions. Japan and other nations could also have used a clause in the draft text to limit the importation of agricultural products.

“On the other side, developing nations (the G-23) led by Brazil continued to object to the text in saying that the developed nations needed to further limit domestic supports, export subsidies and increase market access, while developing nations had little or no room to provide grater market access to products from developed nations. Developing nations were also seeking ‘special agricultural safeguards (SSM).'

“Other issues that were to be addressed in Cancun include Non-Agricultural Market Access, Services, Geographical Indicators, and Intellectual Property. Many other issues remain unresolved due to the lack of agreement in Cancun.”

USMEF will update additional news on the WTO trade talks here as it becomes available.