International Trade Reporter / Volume 17 Number 44
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy Nov. 2 downplayed suggestions that the United States and the European Union were close to agreeing on an agenda for a new round of global trade talks, saying that the two sides may have to wait until late next year to "come together" on the issue.
Lamy said that the EU has been calling for the launch of new WTO talks, but he said that the United States has "found it difficult" to pursue the issue since last spring, focusing instead on obtaining congressional approval of permanent normal trade relations status for China.
"It may be that 2001 will be a year of diverse coalition-building for both of us and that we will have to come together at a later point," he said. Lamy made his remarks after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky for about two hours.
Barshefsky said last month that the United States and the EU were "quite close" to agreeing on the broad parameters of new WTO negotiations, following the failure of the two sides to find common ground before and at the WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle late last year.
But Lamy, speaking Nov. 2 at a conference organized by The European Institute, said that the United States and the EU still need to "work out our differences" before a new round of WTO talks can be launched.
"I thought we would get there during the course of this year," he said, "The difficulty is that we have been exploring each other's flexibility on a conditional basis, so it is hard to gauge what would stick at the end."
The United States and the EU have differed principally over what the scope of the new WTO talks should be, with Washington calling for a relatively narrow agenda and Brussels pressing for comprehensive talks dealing with issues ranging from tariff elimination to investment and competition policy.
Other Bilateral Disputes Also Discussed
Barshefsky said in a conference call with reporters after meeting with Lamy that the two negotiators had focused on U.S. efforts to comply with the WTO finding against the U.S. foreign sales corporation tax regime. She said that it is "of great concern" to the Clinton administration that the House failed to approve FSC legislation.
Barshefsky said that she and Lamy had also reviewed various other bilateral disputes during their meeting. But U.S. and EU officials said that no agreement was reached on issues, including those involving the EU's restrictions on beef and banana imports, which the WTO has ruled to be illegal.
"It's very tough," she said, "but we continue to believe that settlement of both matters would be the best outcome." She said that the United States was focused on resolving the beef and banana disputes, but she said that if no solution is found by mid-November, she would consult with Congress on revising the trade sanctions now in place against the EU over the disputes, as required under U.S. law.
"A statute is a statue and will be complied with," Barshefsky said. "Right now, our focus is on trying to see whether settlement of bananas and beef is possible. ... As mid-November comes upon us, if a settlement does not look likely, we are going to be consulting with the Congress on next steps."
Package Negotiations
For his part, Lamy said he is opposed to seeking to resolve various U.S.-EU disputes in a "package" negotiation. "Stuffing beef, bananas, FSC, aircraft subsidies, and [genetically modified organisms] would make for a great negotiation," he said. "[But] the idea of a 'big deal' is not a good one."
Lamy said that taking such a path would imply a "two-tier" WTO, where the United States and the EU would essentially be flaunting the WTO dispute settlement mechanism agreed to in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks. "This would send precisely the wrong message to developing countries," he said.
By Gary G. Yerkey:
