The Argentine government, together with Brazil, India and South Africa questioned the inclination, almost bias, of some trade measures elaborated by the World Trade Organization Director General.
Ambassador in Washington Jorge Argüello said that the Argentine Government is concerned with the deficit increase in bilateral trade with the US and is waiting for Barack Obama administration actions to increase the purchase of Argentine goods.
In an offensive to counter recent attacks on Argentina’s restrictive trade policies, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman expressed at the World Trade Organization, WTO, his government’s concern with the current course of global negotiations which face the serious risk of abandoning the development goals agreed when the launching of the current Doha Round of negotiations back in 2001.
World trade growth will slow for a second year to 3.7% in 2012 but “severe” downside risks could drive it further below the 20-year average of 5.4%, the World Trade Organization forecast on Thursday.
The US and forty countries which formalized a joint statement before the World Trade Organization complaining about Argentina’s trade restrictions are considering moving a step further and begin a “disputes settlement” process which could lead to an open condemnation if the administration of President Cristina Kirchner does not lift the protectionist network.
The World Trade Organization admitted Russia as its newest member on Friday, giving a boost to its biggest trading partner, the European Union.
The World Trade Organization reached on Thursday a landmark reform on its Government Procurement Agreement, opening 100 billion dollars of government contracts to foreign competition and paving the way for more countries, including China, to join the pact.
The World Trade Organization slashed its forecast for the world’s export growth to just 5.8% for the year, down from 6.5%. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his annual report said that world trade has slowed “considerably” in recent months.
Economic pressures are tempting G20 governments to resort to protectionism in a misguided bid to shield their domestic markets from problems that are unrelated to trade, the World Trade Organization said in a biannual report Wednesday.
The head of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy warned Tuesday its 153 members of the consequences on failing to agree a watered-down global trade deal by December and called for an adult conversation over what to do next.