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The following story is from the October 1 issue of International
Trade Reporter
Current Reports:
WTO
G-20 Leaders Vow to Work on Completing
Doha in 2010, See No Early Breakthrough
PITTSBURGH—Leaders of the Group of 20 nations ended two days of meetings here Sept. 25 with a pledge to make every effort to conclude the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations in 2010 but rejected a proposal to set a target date of early next year for achieving a breakthrough in the stalled talks.
The leaders, at a meeting hosted by President Obama, said that they were determined to seek an “ambitious and balanced” outcome to the negotiations “based on the progress already made. …”
A joint “Leaders’ Statement”
issued at the conclusion of the Sept. 24-25 summit said that the heads of state and government had agreed that closing the remaining gaps between countries should proceed “as quickly as possible.”
It also directed their trade ministers to “take stock of the situation” no later than early next year.
No Modalities Deadline in Early 2010
But the statement made no mention of a proposal floated by the European Union and other WTO members, including Australia and Brazil, to set an early-2010 deadline for reaching agreement on the core formulas, known as “modalities,” for reducing or eliminating trade-distorting agricultural and industrial import tariffs.
The United States had come under pressure to agree to the proposal in discussions aimed at hammering out the language of the final G-20 communique. But sources said that U.S. officials led by Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, were reluctant to agree to such a deadline, arguing that substance was more important than artificial timelines.
Froman told BNA here on the margins of the G-20 meeting on Sept. 24 that the U.S. position continues to be to work to complete the negotiations “sometime” in 2010.
The 27 EU member states agreed at a meeting in Brussels that the G-20 should set a “realistic and ambitious road map” for completing the negotiations.
European Commission President Jose Barroso, in a speech here Sept. 24 at the University of Pittsburgh, called for a “swift”
conclusion of the Doha Round—”not only to boost global trade, but also in recognition of our interest to help the developing world to pull out of the [economic] crisis. …”
Fighting Protectionism
The Group of 20, which groups major industrialized and developing countries, also agreed to “stand together to fight against protectionism.”
“We will keep markets open and free and reaffirm the commitments made in Washington and London [at G-20 summits last November and in April of this year]: to refrain from raising barriers or imposing new barriers to investment or trade in goods and services, imposing new export restrictions or implementing [WTO]
inconsistent measures to stimulate exports and commit to rectify measures as they arise,” the Pittsburgh statement said.
Trade analysts said that the language contained in the statement on the Doha Round was essentially the same as that included in the Washington and London summit declarations, namely, to work to achieve an “ambitious and balanced” conclusion to the talks in 2010 (26 ITR 476, 4/9/09).
Jeffrey J. Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told BNA that the Pittsburgh declaration is not likely to dramatically change the tone of the negotiations on the ground.
“It is not the type of specific charge
[by leaders] that would definitely shake up the scene in Geneva,”
Schott said. “But it adds to the slowly building pressure [on the negotiators] to get back to work. …”
Daniel M. Price, senior partner for global issues at Sidley Austin LLP, called the trade language in the final Pittsburgh communique a “welcome sign of international political will”
to conclude the Doha negotiations.
But Price, who served as deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs in the administration of President George W. Bush, said that it is not yet clear whether the Obama administration is prepared to spend the necessary political capital to see the Doha talks to completion, noting a “general ambivalence” toward trade liberalization on the part of the new administration.
He said that the administration's hesitancy to sign off on a proposal by the EU and other WTO members to set an early-2010 deadline for agreeing on the Doha modalities for agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) may reflect its “general reluctance” to lead on trade.
China's Hu Criticizes New Restrictions
Price said it is true that substance ultimately drives the pace of trade negotiations. But he said that without deadlines the process can “just drag on.”
The leaders of the 27 EU member states, in a statement issued at the end of a preparatory meeting for the G-20 summit on Sept. 17, said that the G-20 leaders should agree on a “realistic and ambitious roadmap” for finishing the Doha negotiations.
At the meeting here Sept. 24-25, Chinese President Hu Jintao, meanwhile, was understood to have raised China's concern over the decision by President Obama, announced on Sept. 11, to impose stiff safeguard duties on Chinese tires in response to a surge in imports (26 ITR 1247, 9/17/09). He said at the meeting Sept. 25, according to a transcript of his remarks distributed by the Chinese delegation, that the G-20 countries should “resolutely oppose and reject protectionism in all forms, uphold a fair, free and open global trading and investment system, and impose no new restrictions on goods, investment and services as we have committed.”
Hu also said that the G-20 countries should work “for success” in the Doha negotiations “on the basis of locking up the existing achievements.”
A hundred or so developing countries, meanwhile, issued a joint statement here Sept. 25 saying they support the objective of concluding the Doha Round in 2010. But they said that the developed world will have to show “true engagement, flexibility, and political will.”
The statement said that developing countries have been particularly vulnerable during the global economic downturn and would disproportionately bear the consequences of any erosion of confidence in the stability of the multilateral trading system.
“It is time now for real leadership and strong action in order to meet the 2010 goal,” the statement said, noting that world leaders have already reaffirmed their commitment to completing the negotiations on several occasions—but without “effective engagement in Geneva.”
By Gary G. Yerkey
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