Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 13 • Number 11 • 25th March 2009
EU, US Trade Reps Vow to Work toward Doha Deal
Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say
The top trade officials from the EU and the US vowed last week to fend off protectionism and work to conclude a world trade deal at the WTO “as soon as possible.”
EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton was in Washington on Thursday to pay a visit to new US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who was officially confirmed by the US Senate just the previous day.
In a joint statement released after the meeting, the leaders stressed the importance of the trade relationship between the US, the world’s biggest national economy, and the EU, its largest trading bloc. Two-way trade in goods between the economic powerhouses totalled 435 billion euros (US$ 585 billion) last year.
Ashton and Kirk also addressed the ongoing economic crisis, which they said would “demand extraordinary leadership” from their countries.
“We met today at an extremely difficult time for the global economy, a time that is testing the resilience of the rules-based multilateral trading system that has played such a critical role in building the global economy,” the trade officials said the statement.
“We agreed on the importance of achieving an ambitious and balanced outcome to the WTO Doha Development Agenda as soon as possible,” they added.
That pronouncement could bring a modicum of comfort to trade observers who have doubted the degree to which the new US administration will push for a conclusion to the WTO’s Doha Round of trade talks, which has stalled repeatedly since its launch in the Qatari capital in 2001. Geneva-based trade delegates have been waiting to see how Kirk will approach the talks. Some are sceptical about whether the US will agree to the tariff-cutting and subsidy-lowering measures that would comprise a global trade deal while its economy continues to suffer.
Underscoring the US role in the negotiations, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy also paid Kirk a visit in Washington recently. The DG was in the US capital on Monday and Tuesday of this week to press his agenda with a number of business and government leaders, but his first stop was with the new USTR.
“At the moment, [Lamy]’s not clear on what they want from the Doha Round and he wants a bit of clarity as to their intentions,” a spokesman for the Director-General said, Reuters reported.
During his two-day visit to Washington, Lamy also planned to meet with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. On Capitol Hill, the Director-General had scheduled visits with Congressman Charles Rangel, who chairs the House committee that deals with trade issues, as well as Senator Chuck Grassley, the lead Republican in the Senate’s Committee on Finance.
ICTSD reporting; “WTO’s Lamy presses US as world trade tumbles,” REUTERS, 23 March 2009.
One response to “EU, US Trade Reps Vow to Work toward Doha Deal”
Add a comment
Enter your details and a comment below, then click Submit Comment. We’ll review and publish the best comments.
Appears that current world economic and financial crisis will be on the right track of the rails, once the largets economies of the world, that is the US and EU taken the correct direction.
But others medium and small economies of the world, somehow are also part on the game of trade, therefore their bigest participation over this mutual effort of correct the current world crisis, is by implementing policies to the private and public sectores to reduce the constant practice of corruption in each respective country.
Although, world leaders advocate for free markets, markets, especially those form LDC’s cannot be wide open for free trade, because small and infants industries will be hurt badly or perhaps they will smoke up in the air, worsening the world crisis.
The fact this economic and financial caos is a world effort, the world should be united, but to some countries this crisis means nothing, because they are insisting in delivering and purchasing arms and weapons for destruction, while soem world leaders advocate hate, while other countries are suffering from famine, hungry and loss of jobs.
Habitants, especially from LDC’s, do experiment water, power and health problems and this is reflection time, so arms/weapons should never be over food/jobs. Can the US and EU do something to improve about those issues?
Kirk Nelson, Pres.
wesolutions.org
New York, NY. USA