TRADE DEAL HOPES FADE AS G4 TALKS FALL APART

f117a

The chance of a global trade deal being clinched before President George W. Bush leaves the White House shrank dramatically yesterday with talks between core negotiating partners collapsing again in division and acrimony.

In a near-exact repeat of events last summer, talks in Potsdam, Germany, between the four partners at the centre of the so-called Doha round of negotiations – the EU, US, Brazil and India – broke up with sides still far apart on cutting agricultural subsidies and goods tariffs.

The collapse makes it unlikely that an outline deal can be agreed before the summer, a step necessary to complete a detailed agreement by the end of the year. With the US presidential race starting in earnest next year, many in the talks believe that the political sensitivities surrounding any deal mean no agreement can be concluded until there is a new incumbent in the White House.

Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister, accused the rich countries of arrogance and inflexibility. He told the Financial Times: “It is not just a question of figures. It is a question of attitude. The US does not realise that the world has changed”. The US and EU said Brazil and India offered no serious access to manufactured goods markets in return for proposed reductions in US farm subsidies and European agricultural tariffs.

The failure of the so-called G4 to broker an outline deal will throw the ball back to the entire membership of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, where the chairmen of the farm and industrial goods talks are preparing draft versions of a deal. But trade officials were pessimistic.

Manuel Teehankee, the Philippines WTO ambassador, said: “This is not statesmanlike of the G4. The only way out is to accede to the multilateral process but without G4 agreement it is unlikely to succeed.”



全球贸易谈判核心各方之间的会谈昨日再次在分歧和敌意中以失败告终，使得在美国总统布什(George W. Bush)离任前达成全球贸易协议的可能性大大降低。

多哈回合谈判核心四伙伴（欧盟、美国、巴西和印度）在德国波茨坦的谈判几乎是去年夏季情形的重演，与会各方在削减农业补贴和商品关税问题上仍存在严重分歧，最终导致谈判破裂。

由此，在夏季结束前达成框架性协议已经不太可能，而这是在年底前达成具体协议的必要步骤。鉴于美国总统选举将于明年正式展开，许多谈判参与者都认为，由于任何协议都带有政治敏感性，因此，在新总统入主白宫之前，任何协议都不可能敲定。
印度商业和工业部长卡迈勒•纳特(Kamal Nath)指责富国傲慢而且缺乏灵活性。他向英国《金融时报》表示：“这不仅仅是一个数字问题。这是一个态度问题。美国没有意识到，世界已经改变了。”美国和欧盟表示，巴西和印度没有认真考虑制造品市场的准入，以换取拟议中的美国削减农业补贴和欧洲下调农产品关税。

所谓的“四国集团”(G4)未能达成框架性协议，将把球踢回给世界贸易组织(WTO)的全体成员。世贸组织农业和工业产品谈判的负责人目前正在日内瓦准备协议草案。但贸易官员们并不乐观。

菲律宾驻世贸组织大使塔汗奇(Manuel Teehankee)表示：“四国集团没有展现出政治家风范。现在唯一的出路是展开多边进程，但是如果没有四国集团的协议，多边谈判就不太可能获得成功。”