US Unhappy With WTO Proposal
July 31, 2007
The US government has issued a warning to the World Trade Organisation, that it doesn’t support new plans for a world trade deal.
The World Trade Organisation (or WTO) is concerned largely with regulating the balance of international trade amongst countries worldwide, and is getting set to debate draft plans for a worldwide trade initiative in September.
But the US have said they are unhappy with the form in which the agreement has taken, particularly with regards to ambiguity in agriculture, services and non-agricultural manufacturing.
According to US ambassador Peter Allgeier, once more light can be shed on the precise details of the treatment of these three subcategories, it may be easier for the US to commit to a deal.
Despite the deadlock, government officials have said they would be willing to continue talks, which began in 2001, to thrash out a deal after all.
The Doha round of talks have been going on for 6 years so far, and although a great deal has been achieved in that time, there are still fundamental aspects affecting the reaching of a satisfactory conclusion in the form of a worldwide trade deal.
Nations worldwide have been at loggerheads debating the intricacies of an international free trade deal, in which developed and developing nations have come to blows over tariffs, and market access.
But the WTO believes that in order to find any deal, there will have to be compromise from all quarters if a deal is to be reached any time soon.
“It is important that everybody be fit and ready on the starting line at that time. We have already come a long way in this round, and the distance left to go is not so great. But it will require an extra effort”