World Trade Organisation director general French Pascal Lamy
Photo: AP
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WTO Stumbles over Ag. Subsidiaries
World Trade Organization members were unable to reach a compromise during negotiations in Geneva as part of the Doha Round on liberalization of world trade. Trade representatives involved in the talks say that the United States, China and India were unable to come to a single position on agricultural subsidies, the Associated Press reports. The negotiations are near breaking down. Earlier, India rejected a compromise agreement offered by WTO director general Pascal Lami on July 25.
Lami’s proposal would have lowered limits on agricultural subsidies in Europe by 80 percent and in the U.S. by 70 percent. It left developing countries industrial duties in the range of 20-25 percent to allow them to protect strategic production.
The Doha Round of negotiations was begun in 2001 with the goal of liberalizing international trade and reinforcing international economic growth. In recent years, however, the process of agreement has bogged down, largely due to the inability to reach a consensus on agricultural subsidies in the U.S. and Europe and liberalization of industrial markets in developing countries. At the last Davos forum, WTO members expressed the hope that the Doha Round would end successfully by the end of this year.
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