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US, Brazil hold out hope for breakthrough in WTO talks
By Isabelle Hourcade
AFP
RIO DE JANEIRO
Petroleumworld.com 07 30 06
The United States and Brazil on Saturday agreed that a breakthrough is still possible in the World Trade Organization's troubled "Doha Round" of talks, despite recent failed negotiations among key players in Geneva.
"We think a breakthrough is possible," said US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, who met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim here early Saturday.
But she added: "If you are not able to do it within the next five to seven months or six to eight months, it is hard to imagine after that not losing a lot of momentum, and then being in a scenario of maybe two years or three years -- or not at all."
Amorim concurred: "If there is going to be a breakthrough, it must happen in the next five to seven months so we can conclude the cycle in a reasonable period of time."
On the eve of her meeting with Amorim, Schwab had said the United States was in a "race against the clock" because the White House's congressional mandate to negotiate expires on July 1, 2007.
Any trade agreement must be submitted to the US Congress 90 days before the expiration of the trade promotion authority, she noted.
Once the authority expires, the US Congress will regain the right to amend trade agreements, leaving any Doha agreement hostage to US vested interests.
The Doha Round is on life support after a meeting of six key players, including the United States and the European Union, collapsed Monday, largely because of disputes over farm payments.
Amorim has joined the European Union, India and others in pinning the most blame on the United States for Monday's collapse of the talks.
US President George W. Bush said Thursday that the United States remained committed to a balanced WTO pact that opens up foreign markets in return for cuts to US farm subsidies.
Schwab added that: "the US is prepared to make cuts in our trade distorting domestic support.
"If the right degree of market access (concessions) is on the table, the US is prepared to do more than we put on the table," she said.
Meanwhile, WTO chief Pascal Lamy warned in an interview released on Saturday that global talks on removing trade barriers are doomed if the US Congress does not renew the US negotiating mandate beyond mid-2007.
"If (this) mandate is not extended the negotiations are dead. It would be the end of the Doha Round," Lamy said in an interview with the German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
However he said there were "indications" that the US administration's mandate would be renewed, "which was not the case before negotiations were suspended".
Nevertheless, he said he did not expect a trade accord to be signed by the end of this year.
The troubled effort to bring down agricultural and industrial barriers was dubbed the Doha Development Agenda when it was launched in the Qatari capital, Doha, in 2001.
The United States and the European Union have traded accusations of inflexibility on the key stumbling block of farm subsidies.
The US Congress has currently mandated the administration of President George W. Bush to negotiate until July 2007, but has said a trade liberalisation accord must be sent to it for approval 90 days before the mandate expires.
AFP 29 2115 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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