Global trade talks that are intended to improve the lives of billions of poor people stand on the brink of failure, Peter Mandelson, the European Trade Commissioner, has told The Times.
At a meeting today, Mr Bush can either breathe new life into trade negotiations that were suspended last July because of international disagreement over cutting tariffs and farm subsidies, or he can effectively kill the five-year process, said Mr Mandelson.
The financial consequences of failing to liberalise World Trade Organisation rules through the so-called Doha Round of talks will be huge, with the World Bank estimating that a deal could generate an extra $287 billion (£150 billion) by 2015.
The political impact could be even greater. The talks, that were convened in Doha two months after 9/11, are sometimes known as the Development Round to emphasise the goal of helping the world’s poorest people to escape poverty and also to remove a key motivation for terrorism.
“We are on a knife-edge,” Mr Mandelson said, before his meetings today with President Bush and Susan Schwab, the US Trade Representative. “We have to engage President Bush personally, because this deal can only be done with his authority.” Mr Mandelson will meet Mr Bush alongside José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President.
That’s from a paper in the United Kingdom. Once again America is to blame because we don’t want to unilaterally surrender. The Captain explains:
This sounds somewhat overwrought. The US has offered in the past to reduce farm subsidies, but only if the EU agrees to do the same. The EU spends a lot more money, relatively speaking, to protect its own agricultural producers, and the European Trade Commission should spend more of its time getting its member states, especially France, to end or greatly curtail their own subsidies.
So the United States which is the greatest proponent of free trade is to blame because the Europeans want us sacrifice rather than them. (How French by the way.)
The Captain goes on to explain how he’s pretty sure that we won’t see free trade in agriculture any time soon. It seems that the new Congress wouldn’t go along with it and his authority to fast track trade legislation is ending.
I for one am a free-trader, but I don’t think we should do it unilaterally. Greater minds than me would disagree.