World trade talks collapse in acrimony (global trade deal maybe after bush is out)

[The Straight Story]

World trade talks collapse in acrimony

By Alan Beattie, World Trade Editor

Published: June 21 2007 20:43 | Last updated: June 21 2007 20:43

The chance of a global trade deal being clinched before President George W. Bush leaves the White House shrank dramatically on Thursday with talks between core negotiating partners collapsing again in division and acrimony.

In a near-exact repeat of events last summer, talks in Potsdam, Germany, between the four partners at the centre of the so-called Doha round of negotiations – the EU, US, Brazil and India – broke up with sides still far apart on cutting agricultural subsidies and goods tariffs.

The collapse makes it unlikely that an outline deal can be agreed before the summer, a step necessary to complete a detailed agreement by the end of the year. With the US presidential race starting in earnest next year, many in the talks believe the political sensitivities in any deal mean no agreement can be concluded until there is a new incumbent in the White House.

Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister, accused the rich countries of arrogance and inflexibility. He told the Financial Times: “It is not just a question of figures. It is a question of attitude. The US does not realise that the world has changed.” The US and the EU said Brazil and India offered no serious access to manufactured goods markets in return for proposed reductions in US farm subsidies and European agricultural tariffs.

The failure of the so-called G4 to broker an outline deal will throw the ball back to the entire membership of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, where the chairmen of the farm and industrial goods talks are preparing draft versions of a deal. But trade officials were pessimistic.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e179eff8-202c-11dc-9eb1-000b5df10621.html

[izzie]

1. I do think that the US is having trouble with change.

When WW2 ended we were The World power. And we sure got rich selling any thing and every thing to the world, which we made.. That is not what we are today. Hard to face that. DC must see this and so must the people. We are not the world just part of it.

[pampango]

2. While I understand that the subsidies that agriculture receives in the US

and Europe make it difficult for Third World farmers to compete, it is politically difficult in Western countries to propose cutting subsidies that our, and Europe's, farmers feel they need in order to make a living. If many of the beneficiaries of the subsidies are corporate farms, while many of those harmed are poor Third World farmers, it is a complex issue. You could argue to side with the poor farmers versus the corporate farmers, but then you are siding with foreigners versus Americans.

Not sure why the US and Europe keep insisting on increased access for their manufactured goods. Other than Germany, I am not aware of any developed country that is a big exporter of manufactured goods, anyway.

[The2ndWheel]

3. Good

The more global trade talks collapse, the better.