Give and take needed to make Seattle a success

Date: 11/11/1999

In the latest setback to hopes of a successful outcome to the Seattle ministerial meeting later this month, the EU and the US have seen their plans to discuss 'core' labour standards at the forthcoming trade liberalisation talks bluntly rejected by developing countries.

At a meeting in Geneva earlier this week, the world's two largest trading blocs were told in no uncertain terms that discussions on workers' rights were the exclusive preserve of bodies such as the International Labour Organisation, and had no place in the World Trade Organisation.

The developing countries claim that calls for global minimum labour standards are motivated primarily by protectionism rather than genuine concerns about workers' rights. But no one in Washington or Brussels is talking about keeping out products from developing countries because wages and benefits are lower outside the rich northern hemisphere, and most other WTO members agree that some form of safeguards are needed to ensure that further trade liberalisation does not lead to a global “race to the bottom” in labour standards.

The debate over the agenda for the millennium round is still at the grand-standing stage as WTO members jockey for position, pushing hard for their own priorities to be tackled at the forthcoming talks and for topics they would rather not discuss to be left off the table.

But although the developing countries have mounted a vigorous public campaign against holding talks on labour standards, it is no secret that they would almost certainly agree to negotiations on workers' rights if they could secure better access to key markets for their agricultural exports in return.

The EU has already outlined a package of measures for the world's least developed countries which would cut tariffs on “essentially all” products to zero. This enigmatic phrase is a figleaf for the Union's perennial limits on trade liberalisation - the Common Agricultural Policy - which make it hard to offer significant concessions on the most sensitive farm goods.

But if they want to make a success of Seattle and get a balanced agenda for the millennium round, both the EU and the US will have to make substantially improved offers on agriculture to the developing countries. Washington should sign up to the tariff-free deal proposed by the Union despite its fears about the impact on its textile sector and the EU should go further on access for farm products instead of seeking to shield some sectors from increased imports. Otherwise, the developing countries will have little incentive to back down over labour standards and the millennium round will get off to an inauspicious start.