World trading powers appealed yesterday for efforts to salvage WTO proposals amid regret and emotion at the collapse of nine-day marathon talks, and warnings that the poorest countries will suffer.
“I would only urge the director-general [of the WTO] to treat this as a pause, not a breakdown, to keep on the table what is there,” Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the morning after the dramatic collapse.
The US and India shared dismay and regret even as they stuck by the unreconciled positions on import tariffs which sank the talks on Tuesday, while African countries were just plain angry.
PHOTO: AP
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the breakdown was “distressing,” while Nath turned up to talk to reporters “with a very heavy heart.”
“Susan Schwab said she loved me and I said I loved her too,” Nath said. “But probably she didn’t love me enough. I told her that.”
Talks collapsed after nine grueling days of negotiations due to disagreement between India and the US over the so-called special safeguard mechanism (SSM). The measure is designed to protect poor farmers, allowing countries to impose a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.
But African countries which had hoped to tackle other issues, such as poor countries’ cotton and banana exports, were inconsolable.
“We can hardly control our anger,” said Burkina Faso Trade Minister Mamadou Sanou.
“We are most disappointed that the rich countries, champions of liberalization who urge us to liberalize our markets, those very countries are afraid to trade with us on an equal footing,” he said.
Kenyan Trade Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking on behalf of an African grouping, said the collapse “gravely undermines” the fight against poverty.
“Africa’s opportunity to achieve fair trade has ... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations,” he said.
Ministers had struggled for nine days to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO’s Doha Round, which has foundered repeatedly since it was launched in 2001.
Delegates held meetings yesterday to discuss the way forward. Some called for the progress made so far to be preserved, while others have insisted time was needed before a next step could be made.
“We will need to let the dust settle a bit,” WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Tuesday. “WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together.”
Beijing, meanwhile, blamed “selfish” wealthy Western nations for the failure while Japan upbraided China and India, as growing economic powers, for not shouldering greater responsibilities in the WTO.
Xinhua news agency said the negotiations in Geneva collapsed ultimately because the US and the EU were unwilling to scrap huge subsidies they pay their farmers.
Xinhua said the root cause was that rich countries cared too much about their own interests and too little about those of developing nations.
But Japanese said China was less sinned-against than sinning.
“Frankly, I’d have to wonder whether China and India weighed their words and actions commensurate with their responsibility and how much they considered the overall global economy as they focused too much on their own interests,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference in Tokyo.
Both India and China now wield more economic influence than they did in 2001, he said.
“In other words, their responsibilities have also grown bigger, too,” he said. “I hope China and India will address international negotiations like the WTO talks with a sense of how big a role they play in the world economy.”
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS