Schwab Seeks To Sustain Trade Talks Despite Doha Suspension

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

28 July 2006

US Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab is visiting Brazil until Saturday, in the first of several trips designed to sustain support for the global trade and development goals of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda.

Schwab will confer with Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who represents his country in trade negotiations, on how to move the negotiations forward to open new global trade flows following the suspension of formal Doha Round on July 24.

"The spirit of Doha lives even if a formal agreement eludes us at this time," announced Ambassador Schwab, continuing:

"There remains a strong desire among WTO members to alleviate poverty and to spur development through increased trade."

"Brazil is a leader in the WTO system, and it has consistently called for increased market access opportunities in agriculture as part of the Doha outcome. It has never wavered from this point," Schwab noted.

"We will continue to work with other responsible leaders in the global trading community, including Brazil, to achieve our shared objectives to increase trade flows, combat poverty, and spur economic growth. The United States will continue to engage all our trading partners to revive the Doha Development Agenda and ensure that its full potential is realized."

In August, Ambassador Schwab will meet with trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). In September she, along with US Secretary of Agriculture Johanns, will visit with members of the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting nations in Australia.

Then in November, Ambassador Schwab will accompany Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a meeting of trade minister and other leaders of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC).

The United States and the European Union have exchanged angry words since the suspension of the talks, with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson accusing the US of showing "no flexibility at all" on the key sticking points, and Ambassador Schwab hitting back by arguing that:

"The United States took the Leaders’ mandates for flexibility in St. Petersburg seriously. But the US cannot, and will not, negotiate with itself. In view of the EU’s lack of movement at the G6, the United States reluctantly had to agree with Director-General Lamy’s assessment that the differences among G-6 members remained unbridgeable."

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