World Trade Organization

Union Leaders Quit Clinton Panel Over China Deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To protest a key pact with China, AFL-CIO labor federation President John Sweeney and two other union leaders resigned from a White House panel that advises President Clinton on trade policy, the group said on Friday.

France Applauds WTO Blow to U.S. Trade Tax Breaks

PARIS, Feb 25 (Reuters) - France applauded on Friday a World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision that tax breaks for U.S. exporters violated global trade rules and urged the United States to change its laws by October to comply with the ruling.

EU Confident of China WTO Deal ""Very Soon""

By Paul Eckert BEIJING (Reuters) - The head of an EU negotiating team set off for home on Friday saying he was confident of a deal on China's bid to join the World Trade Organization despite failing to reach agreement in four days of talks.

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.

WTO Starts Negotiations on Liberalising Services

GENEVA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - World Trade Organisation delegates began negotiations on Friday to try to draw up a framework for liberalising trade in services.

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.

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.