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EU Trade Negotiators Leave China After Talks Collapse

BEIJING, Feb 25 (AFP) - A European Union trade delegation left China on Friday after failing to clinch a market-opening WTO deal with Beijing, and no firm date has been set for new talks, an EU official told AFP. China's official Xinhua news agency said the two sides had "come very close" to reaching an agreement in the four days of negotiations which ended on Thursday.

China and Europeans Break Off Talks on WTO Membership

New York Times | By CRAIG S. SMITH HANGHAI -- Chinese and European Union negotiators broke off talks today on China's entry to the World Trade Organization, further complicating the country's troubled bid to join the body. No date was set to resume the talks. "The gap has narrowed, but we are not there yet," said Hans-Friedrich Beseler, head of the European team.

U.S. Firms Cleared to Ship Meat to China Under Bilateral Agreement, Barshefsky Says

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Feb. 23 that the Chinese government has now approved exports of U.S. meat to China under the bilateral agricultural agreement signed between the two countries last spring.

Exports Projected to Increase Next Year, But Value Will Decline, Annual Study Finds

U.S. agricultural exports are expected to increase in the next year, but their value will continue to drop for another year before recovering, according to a Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute study released Feb. 23.

Barshefsky Says White House Committed To Pass Permanent NTR, Despite Setbacks

White House efforts to obtain permanent normal trade relations status for China went into overdrive Feb. 23 as new obstacles to that goal continued to arise. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky told the Senate Finance Committee that the Clinton administration is prepared to do everything in its power to build support for granting permanent NTR.

Tax Breaks Aren""t Subsidies

The Wall Street Journal By Keith Marsden, an economist based in Geneva. The World Trade Organization badly needs to refurbish its image after last year's debacle in Seattle, and to demonstrate its continuing relevance as an independent arbitrator of rules that promote global trade, free markets and open competition. Stamping out tax breaks is not a good place to start.

Officials See Little Progress In WTO Agriculture Talks This Year

GENEVA--Members of the World Trade Organization are unlikely to engage in any substantial negotiations on the further liberalization of agriculture trade during 2000, according to farm trade officials contacted by BNA.

WTO Says U.S. Tax Law Skirts Global Rules

WTO Says U.S. Tax Law Skirts Global Rules Trade: Group sides with European Union, saying provision illegally subsidizes multinationals. Billions of dollars are at stake. By JONATHAN PETERSON, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WTO rejects U.S. appeal on trade tax breaks

WTO rejects U.S. appeal on trade tax breaks By Curt Anderson Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Billions of dollars in tax breaks for U.S. exports have been ruled an illegal subsidy by the World Trade Organization, but the issue is far from settled.

WTO Protesters Eye the Capital

By REBECCA SINDERBRAND Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Many of the same activists who protested World Trade Organization talks in Seattle last year have picked a new venue for mass demonstrations - this time, within shouting distance of the White House.