Director-general of Trade and Industry, Raymond Young, says the territory, which hosted the last round of Doha negotiations, has a "moral high-ground" on free trade that allows it to play the role of "honest broker". The main disagreement was over opening up agricultural and industrial markets in various countries and how to cut rich nation farm subsidies. On 21 July , negotiations started again at the WTO's HQ in Geneva on the Doha round but stalled after nine days of negotiations over the refusal to compromise over the special safeguard mechanism.
As users of safeguards, developing country members receive special and differential treatment with respect to applying their own such measures, with regard to permitted duration of extensions, and with respect to re-application of measures. Negotiations had continued since the last conference in June Kamal Nath , India's Commerce Minister, was absent from the first few days of the conference due to a vote of confidence being conducted in India's Parliament.
However, there were disagreements on issues including special protection for Chinese and Indian farmers and African and Caribbean banana imports to the EU. The negotiations collapsed on 29 July over issues of agricultural trade between the United States, India, and China. Pascal Lamy said, "Members have simply not been able to bridge their differences.
WTO | The Doha Round
However, the United States, China and India could not agree on the threshold that would allow the mechanism to be used, with the United States arguing that the threshold had been set too low. Several countries blamed each other for the breakdown of the negotiations. Congress, which he said was "one of the most reactionary farm bills in the history of the U. On 19 December , a WTO meeting in the Kenyan Capital led to an agreement for developed countries to end export subsidies immediately and developing countries to follow by the end of In , several countries called for negotiations to start again.
Although a WTO ministerial conference scheduled in November would not be a negotiating session, [46] there would be several opportunities in to discuss the progress. In early , Brazil and Lamy focused on the role of the United States in overcoming the deadlock. At the annual conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos , British prime minister David Cameron called for the Doha talks to conclude by the end of the year, saying that "We've been at this Doha round for far too long. It's frankly ridiculous that it has taken 10 years to do this deal.
However, there was still some controversy over this, with Cuba threatening to oppose any deal which did not affect the US embargo on Cuba. The alternative to the WTO was seen as a proliferation of bilateral and regional agreements and, in the case of agriculture, the increased use of private standards.
Why the Doha round collapsed
Agriculture has become the lynchpin of the agenda for both developing and developed countries. Three other issues have been important. The first, now resolved, pertained to compulsory licensing of medicines and patent protection. A second deals with a review of provisions giving special and differential treatment to developing countries; a third addresses problems that developing countries are having in implementing current trade obligations. Agriculture has become the most important and controversial issue.
The United States is being asked by the European Union EU and the developing countries, led by Brazil and India, to make a more generous offer for reducing trade-distorting domestic support for agriculture. The United States is insisting that the EU and the developing countries agree to make more substantial reductions in tariffs and to limit the number of import-sensitive and special products that would be exempt from cuts.
Import-sensitive products are of most concern to developed countries like the European Union, while developing countries are concerned with special products — those exempt from both tariff cuts and subsidy reductions because of development, food security, or livelihood considerations. The issue involves the balance of interests between the pharmaceutical companies in developed countries that held patents on medicines and the public health needs in developing countries.
Another issue concerns the protection of traditional medicinal knowledge and practices. Before the Doha meeting, the United States claimed that the current language in TRIPS was flexible enough to address public health emergencies, but other countries insisted on new language.
Voting in the General Council , member governments approved a decision that offered an interim waiver under the TRIPS Agreement allowing a member country to export pharmaceutical products made under compulsory licenses to least-developed and certain other members.
Developing countries claimed that the developed countries were not negotiating in good faith, while developed countries argued that the developing countries were unreasonable in their proposals. It is argued that subsidies to agriculture, especially to cotton, unite developing countries in opposition more than SDT provisions and therefore have a greater consensus. Developing countries claim that they have had problems with the implementation of the agreements reached in the earlier Uruguay Round because of limited capacity or lack of technical assistance.
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They also claim that they have not realized certain benefits that they expected from the Round, such as increased access for their textiles and apparel in developed-country markets. They seek a clarification of language relating to their interests in existing agreements. Before the Doha ministerial, WTO members resolved a small number of these implementation issues.
At the Doha meeting, the Ministerial Declaration directed a two-path approach for the large number of remaining issues: Outstanding implementation issues are found in the area of market access , investment measures, safeguards, rules of origin , and subsidies and countervailing measures , among others. Most countries participating in the negotiations believe that there is some economic benefit in adopting the agreement; however, there is considerable disagreement of how much benefit the agreement would actually produce. Several think tanks and public organizations assess that the conclusion of the trade round will result in a net gain.
However, the restructuring and adjustment costs required to prevent the collapse of local industries, particularly in developing countries, is a global concern. It would concurrently lose in the tobacco and grains markets, as well as manufacturing of textiles and footwear, machinery and equipment. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
WTO Ministerial Conference of Retrieved 26 July Retrieved 29 July Retrieved 20 July Retrieved 7 December Retrieved 3 August Retrieved 20 August These will further marginalise small and poor countries.
In addition they threaten to impose new and burdensome rules on these fledgling economies. To break the current deadlock, the US and the EU must recognise that the main objective of the multilateral trading system is to provide security and stability in world trade rather than advance the interests of specific business lobbies.
China, India, Brazil and other significant developing countries, such as South Africa, also have to recognise that they need to prioritise the needs of the least developed countries and small and vulnerable economies. Both groups must commit to working together to prevent the re-emergence of protectionism, and strengthening of the rules based trading system, in a way that is fair, development oriented and inclusive. This is the only basis to resolve the current crisis in the multilateral trading system and create a more secure and peaceful world.
This article was adapted from a presentation made by Professor Faizel Ismail to the United Nations University conference titled: Pets in Victorian paintings — Egham, Surrey. The history of pets and family life — Egham, Surrey. Available editions United Kingdom. Faizel Ismail , University of Cape Town.
China and the US are at the centre of multilateral trade talk disagreements. But how should we understand this failure? And how can the situation be resolved? Why the Doha round collapsed The underlying reason for the collapse of the Doha round has been increased protectionism in both the US and the EU. Way forward The Nairobi ministerial meeting ended with some progress on specific issues, including a commitment by developed countries to finally eliminate export subsidies in agriculture. Help combat alt-facts and fake news and donate to independent journalism.
World Trade Organization Negotiations: The Doha Development Agenda
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