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US refuses to cut more farm subsidies { June 30 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060630/pl_afp/wtoustalkstrade_060630134823;_ylt=AqyqusP7wop13v9wc3b0NZ1g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060630/pl_afp/wtoustalkstrade_060630134823;_ylt=AqyqusP7wop13v9wc3b0NZ1g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--
US refuses to give in to pressure from EU, developing nations
by P. Parameswaran
June 30, 2006
GENEVA (AFP) - The United States refused to budge despite pressure from the European Union and key developing economies to put more on the table and help salvage the World Trade Organisation's struggling Doha Round negotiations.
Instead, Washington challenged its counterparts to meet its "ambitious" offer to impose cuts on farm subsidies in return for wider market access.
"Quite simply for our trading partners to show leadership and meet our ambition," said Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for chief US negotiator Susan Schwab, when asked about Washington's expectations from counterparts at the Geneva talks.
The meeting, largely to draw up a framework for tearing down tariffs for agriculture and manufactured goods, was aimed at jumpstarting the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks, which has missed a host of deadlines over almost five years of stumbling negotiations.
Late Thursday, the spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said "it is extremely unlikely to have an agreement this weekend" following a meeting of the Group of Six WTO heavyweights -- the EU, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan and the United States.
Moorjani urged Brussels to make a "new EU tariff-cutting offer in agriculture with average cuts north of 60 percent, without big loopholes."
She also called on key emerging markets like Brazil, India, and China to "also do much more to open up their markets in agriculture and in industrial products.
"They should be willing to make real tariff cuts that deliver new trade flows," she said.
Ministers from the EU and several other developed economies as well as the powerful Group of 20 largely developing nations had been pressing Schwab to offer wider cuts in subsidies, which critics say help the United States undercut its competitors.
The Geneva meeting has seen the United States and the European Union throwing challenges and counterchallenges.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had said Thursday that Brussel's position was not entrenched and that the 25-nation EU was willing to approach that of the G20 group of emerging countries.
The G20, led by Brazil and India, want rich countries to make average cuts of 54 percent to their farm import duties. The United States wants cuts of some 66 percent. The current offer from Brussels stands at 39 percent although some estimates put it around at 46 percent.
Moorjani said the G20 proposal "does not deliver, particularly for developing countries, as proposed cuts do not even begin to approach" applied rates of tariffs to ease market access.
She warned that the negotiations could spiral downward if economies such as those in Europe scaled back negotiating aims.
"There is no balance in a proposal that asks the United States to work with something that ignores its interests while at the same time asking for difficult commitments," she said.
Critics have claimed that an existing US subsidy-cutting proposal does not go far enough, alleging that it will do little to bite into real payouts and allow American farmers to continue undercutting their competitors.
Washington rejects such assertions as wrongheaded and says that its offer will have a real impact on world trade.
The 149 nations in the WTO are struggling to complete their Doha Round of trade talks, which aim to slash barriers to commerce and provide a boost for developing countries.
The round, which was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, was originally meant to conclude in 2004. Last year, members set a December 2006 end-date.
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