-Caveat Lector-
http://truthout.org/docs_03/031603G.shtml
WTO Fears Bush Go-it-alone Role
by Elizabeth Becker
International Herald Tribue
Saturday 15 March 2003
U.S. policy could threaten international trade, aides warn
GENEVA - In a break from years of unwavering public faith in
the United States, top officials at the World Trade Organization
are worried that the Bush administration's go-it-alone policy is
threatening international trade.
In the normally closed, clubby world of the WTO, envoys and
officials said they feared that American moves within the
organization and toward a war in Iraq would weaken respect for
international rules and lead to serious practical consequence for
the world economy and business.
In the past months the United States has compiled one of the
worst records for violating trade rules and has single-handedly
blocked an agreement to provide medicines for the world's poorest
nations, a rare accomplishment in this institution that never
openly votes on agreements but painstakingly builds a consensus
behind closed doors.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general of the WTO who is
required to strike a neutral pose as head of the institution, said
an upcoming war could have a devastating practical impact as the
world is grappling with a slowdown in trade, the rise of oil prices
and the rising cost of transportation and insurance. "I can feel
the sense of trepidation," Supachai said in an interview. "Whatever
happens, if the U.S. will maintain the way we use multilateral
solutions, it will be highly appreciated."
That delicate expression of concern about the effect of waging
war without explicit approval of the United Nations was repeated by
some of America's strongest allies. They said they were worried
that all international institutions would suffer a loss of
credibility if the one superpower appeared to be choosing which
rules to obey and which to ignore.
"Normally you can't go to war without the cover of the UN, but
Americans are doing quite a few things alone - even here," said
Carlo Trojan, permanent representative of the European Union at the
WTO. The most glaring example here of going-it-alone was the United
States' last minute refusal to sign off on an agreement that would
help poor nations buy generic medicines through exemptions from
trade rules.
Developing nations had pinned their hopes on this agreement to
fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases that are
ravaging their countries and destroying their plans to climb out of
poverty.
But the United States, with the strong approval of the
American pharmaceutical industry, exercised its veto, which every
nation possesses, and destroyed the deal.
That upended the timetable for this round of trade
negotiations that is dedicated to solving the problems of a
developing nations, a cause identified with Supachai.
As the former deputy prime minister of Thailand and first
director-general of the WTO, Supachai is in the same position as
former Vice President Al Gore was to environmental issues.
At the top of his agenda is the reduction of agriculture
subsidies in rich nations and helping poor nations gain access to
inexpensive, generic medicine.
Now he has lost the first battle.
"That was a great pity," he said. "It would have sent a
powerful message that we talk not only about trade deals but
humanitarian deals."
Diplomats said they found it striking that Europe was willing
to stand up to its pharmaceutical industries and support the
agreement while the United States was not.
Sergio Marchi, permanent representative of Canada to the WTO,
said that U.S. behavior not only put millions of lives at risk but
threatened the organization itself.
"No one can criticize the fact that all politics are local.
But you can't operate 100 percent on local politics if you're part
of a multinational organization," he said. "Otherwise one day it's
your politics, next year it's mine and then there is no more
international organization."
For its part, administration officials said they, too, want an
agreement that helps provide medicines. But they consider the
current agreement too open-ended and say it could lead to
developing nations buying generic versions of drugs under U.S.
patents to treat diseases such as asthma, obesity and impotence.
Linnet Deily, U.S. permanent representative at the WTO, said
that developing nations understood the United States wanted to help
those suffering from the worst epidemics, especially the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.
"The president's pledge of $15 billion in the State of the
Union was extremely meaningful to delegates here," she said.
She also disputed the notion that the mood toward the United
States had changed at the WTO from wholesale support following the
Sept. 11 attacks to open questioning of American exceptionalism and
motives.
"As far as I'm concerned that energy is more intensely felt
today than it was a year and a half ago," she said.
As a pillar of the trading establishment - indeed the world's
largest trading power - the United States is expected to lead the
movement for more liberal trading rules. But since last year, after
President George W. Bush imposed steel tariffs and signed a farm
bill that dramatically increased subsidies, officials here are
wondering if the United States is rescripting its role.
"The World Trade Organization is supposed to be about
trade-offs - giving up something and getting something else in
return," said Shefali Sharma, representative here of the Institute
for Agriculture and Trade, a nonprofit organization based in
Minneapolis.
"Before the European Union was the biggest sinner but the
United States is making Europe look good," she said.
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