-Caveat Lector-
Conflict over trade is causing worldwide protests
BBC Wednesday, May 26, 1999 Published at 18:26 GMT 19:26 UK
World trade headaches grow
Conflict over trade is causing worldwide protests
The United States has accused the European Union of bad faith in the
increasingly bitter row over the import of beef.
World trade wars US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said that
the EU had no intention of complying with a ruling by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) that US beef treated with growth hormones must be
admitted to the EU.
[ image: Charlene Barshefsky: talking tough to the EU] Charlene
Barshefsky: talking tough to the EU"We do not have the sense that
Europe has any serious intent to negotiate a solution to this issue,"
she said
Accusing the EU of 'perhaps 30 years' of defying international trade
rules, she said the current dispute was 'exceptionally debilitating'
to global trade talks.
"We cannot maintain a multilateral trading regime on the basis of
selective compliance," she added.
Ms Barshefsky was speaking ahead of talks with Acting EU Trade
Commissioner Leon Brittan in Paris.
The United States has asked the WTO to approve $200m in sanctions
against EU agricultural products in retaliation. On Wednesday Canada,
whose beef exports have also been hit by the ban, asked for $50m of
sanctions of its own.
No head for WTO
Meanwhile, In Geneva the World Trade Organisation failed yet again to
pick a new leader over a month after its former Director General
retired.
[ image: Thailand's candidate is not quitting] Thailand's candidate is
not quittingThe organisation is deadlocked between two candidates:
Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, supported by many
developing countries and Japan; and former New Zealand Prime Minister
Mike Moore, supported by the United States and Latin America.
After another deadlocked meeting, WTO General Council chairman Ali
Mchumo expressed his despair.
"We are all very conscious that to declare the current process at an
end would bring the organisation into uncharted and dangerous waters,"
he said.
"We cannot foresee how long we should then be without a
director-general or how easy it would be to reach agreement on any
candidate or even on the procedures for choosing one," he added.
Mr Supachai has denied reports that he was about to withdraw from the
race.
He has accused the United States of trying to block his candidacy.
China still outside
The biggest single issue for the World Trade Organisation is the
proposed membership of China, whose exports and imports are not
regulated by international trade rules.
China wants to join the WTO before the next round of trade talks
begins in November, but negotiations with the United States have
stalled.
Charlene Barshefksy insisted that the negotiations will be completed
in time, while holding out the prospect that 'prospective members'
might be allowed to take part in the trade talks.
"WTO accession is good for China, good for the US, and good for the
world community, provided it's on commercially meaningful terms," she
said.
Bad omen for trade talks
The next round of trade liberalisation talks will be getting off to an
inauspicious start.
Not only could the issue of China still be unresolved, but it looks
like the world's biggest trading nation - the United States - will go
into the talks without the power to conclude an agreement.
The weakened Clinton Administration looks increasingly unlikely to
receive full negotiating authority from a hostile Congress. Previous
trade negotiations were conducted under 'fast track' negotiations
which allowed any trade deal to be approved as a whole. Without such
legislation the US Congress could tie up any agreement for years.
As a result of political pressures, the United States is also
proposing an ambitious agenda, broadening the trade talks to include
issues like labour standards and protection of the environment. These
are likely to be opposed by many developing countries, who see them as
protectionism through the back door.
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