MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New September hope for Doha Round global trade talks

Susan Schwab, U.S. Trade Representative

United States is pushing for a resumption of international trade talks in September after a meeting of ministers collapsed without a breakthrough last month, according to US top officials

US Trade representative Susan Schwab revealed that senior officials from a small group of countries are expected to meet next month to explore the possibility of restarting the Doha round negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "We need to come to the table in September at the senior official level to test the seriousness of going forward, to bring forward new ideas to overcome some of the problems that we encountered in July that we were not able to overcome at that time, and quite frankly to stop the deterioration and the erosion of what was on the table in July" underlined Schwab in the newsletter "Inside US trade", a publication from her office. In the framework of those negotiations WTO Director General Pascal Lamy is expected Thursday in Washington. Mr. Lamy was in India last weed. Schwab's comments follow on similar press reports from Brazil and calls from World Bank President Robert Zoellick who supported the suggestion that WTO members should resume the talks soon to capitalize on the momentum gained last month. That meeting saw progress on the headline areas of agricultural and industrial tariffs and subsidies but stalled on differences between the US and India over a proposed safeguard to protect farmers in developing countries from a surge in imports. Zoellick and others have sketched out compromises over the safeguard that would reconcile the needs of developing countries to protect their subsistence farmers from floods of imports with those of food exporters -- rich and poor -- who fear such measures could be used to block normal trade. Schwab is quoted saying that she's hopeful senior officials in September could "clear the way, conceivably, for another round of ministerial engagement". However Schwab also highlighted US concerns about the wording of a report on the industrial goods negotiations, and warned that a compromise floated by Lamy in the talks "has unraveled in large measure". Apparently the report's summary of discussions on proposals to open up individual industrial sectors like textiles or chemicals "uses language that Washington never agreed to", reducing pressure on big emerging countries like China and India to take part in such sector deals.