Trio take Doha stance

The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa are expected to join forces in Pretoria next week to send a strong political message to the EU and US on world trade talks.

Their meeting next Wednesday (17 October) is expected to reflect positions taken on Tuesday (9 October) at a meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s general council. A coalition of developing countries led by South Africa rejected cuts in industrial tariffs aimed at giving EU and US companies access to their burgeoning consumer markets.

"Of course the cuts are going to be big for developing countries because their tariffs are quite high," said a WTO trade official. "That’s the logic of the formulae used for tariff reductions."

The cuts in developing countries’ industrial tariffs would be required in exchange for reductions in farm subsidies by rich countries. Compromise tariff margins were proposed this summer in a bid to breathe new life into the flagging talks, part of the Doha round launched in 2001.

Tuesday’s coalition, known as the NAMA-11, is now calling for new margins. The US and EU, which have already met margins on farm subsidies, are unlikely to agree to further cuts. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is expected to step up pressure on developing countries to accept the current compromises before the three-country summit. "It is a situation we will obviously keep under review," said a European Commission official. The WTO official said that New Zealand’s WTO ambassador Crawford Falconer, who is chairing agriculture talks, could propose new compromise texts at a meeting on 19 October. Margins would then be revised in early November.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement on Tuesday that the NAMA-11 stance could mean the end of the Doha round.

The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa are expected to join forces in Pretoria next week to send a strong political message to the EU and US on world trade talks.