Inside U.S. Trade | November 12, 2001
The third day of the World Trade Organization ministerial has shown some progress on agriculture, as Japan has signaled that it could accept the current agriculture text, but no major movement in the other five key problem areas that must be resolved before members can reach consensus on future negotiations. So far, there has not been "a whole lot" of movement on the controversial issues, and little drafting of compromise texts, a U.S. official said on Nov. 11.
Specifically, there has been little progress on implementation demands, investment and competition, as well as the EU's demand for environmental negotiations, according to trade officials in Doha.
In this situation, trade ministers from selected industrialized and developing countries were scheduled to meet late on Nov. 11 with the six officials chosen to facilitate compromises on six outstanding issue areas, according to the U.S. trade official. Ministers planned to discuss both the substantive issues facing them as well as the process that will be used to achieve the necessary consensus at the Doha meeting, the U.S. official said.
On process, ministers gathering on Nov. 11 faced the challenge of devising a system that allows effective negotiations while not being open to charges from its members that they are being excluded. That criticism has made it hard to institute a so-called "green room" process that characterized previous WTO ministerials. In a green room process, small groups of interested countries work out a given compromise they consider acceptable and essentially present it for approval to the larger WTO membership.
In the first two days of the meeting, the six trade ministers chosen to facilitate a compromise in the six most disputed issues have focused on gaining an understanding of countries' positions on a given issue, the U.S. official said. In most groups, the process has not focused on actually drafting language, according to the U.S. official.
The Nov. 11 informal session was to include ministers from countries that participated in informal gatherings in Mexico and Singapore during the preparations for Qatar, according to the U.S. official. Attending the mid-October Singapore meeting were the U.S., Japan, the European Union, Canada, Korea, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Gabon, and Hong Kong.
The six issue areas are agriculture, implementation, intellectual property protection and public health, environment, WTO rules, and the Singapore issues.
Negotiators have not yet addressed the industrial market access section of the draft declaration, the U.S. official said. On this issue, the U.S. objects to language targeting tariff peaks and tariff escalation for negotiation and developing countries want special and differential treatment language.
Up to now, countries have rejected EU efforts to rework the rules section of the draft declaration to allow negotiations in more areas than are now identified, according to a U.S. official. Most countries focused on this issue want to keep any future negotiations to the subjects now identified, the officials said. The current draft envisions negotiations in the areas of dumping and subsidies, reduction in fishing subsidies and better rules for regional trade agreements.
Under the EU proposal for more general wording, the negotiations could open up other areas for review and open the door to including the precautionary principle in existing trade agreements, critics have charged. The U.S. has ruled out that approach up to now, according to informed sources.
On implementation, there has been slight movement but the U.S. is holding firm in its rejection of including textile concessions in a package aimed at bringing greater trade benefits to developing countries, which is slated to be announced in Doha, the official said. In addition, the U.S. is still objecting to the way the draft ministerial declaration links a list of outstanding implementation demands to the on-going work of the WTO, the trade official said. That issue has not yet been resolved, according to the official.
In the fight over patent protection rules and public health measures, "a small drafting group" has been set up, according to the official. Officials in Doha said a Nov. 11 meeting brought together a group that included the U.S. but excluded its allies in this fight -- Japan, Canada and Switzerland.
Attending the patent meeting were the EU, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Brazil and Peru, which has floated a compromise on the draft public health declaration, these officials said.
On investment and competition, developing countries rejected a Nov. 8 compromise proposal by the EU and Japan on the draft declaration text. The proposal would have made negotiations on these issues more certain by the end of 2002, but would have strengthened the ability of countries to opt out of a potential agreement, according to the text of the proposal. The U.S. is also cool to the compromise, and prefers the existing draft declaration text, a U.S. official said.Inside U.S. Trade:
