Non-farm sector is trade-talks hurdle

Further talks aimed at concluding the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks will open next week (3 September).

Although progress on agricultural issues is expected, developing countries’ opposition to a draft deal on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) looks set to harden.

Developing countries led by Brazil and Argentina had, before the summer break, criticised a draft setting out tariff margins on goods such as textiles and cars, claiming that it would harm their prospects of further industrialisation. "It’s funny, for years agriculture was the major point of discussion and now NAMA is the potential sticking-point," said an EU trade official in Geneva.

Canada’s ambassador to the WTO, Don Stephenson, who is chairing the increasingly sensitive NAMA negotiations, is expected to "take a step back", waiting until the last week of September to launch serious discussions. In the meantime, it is hoped that his New Zealand counterpart Crawford Falconer, who is leading talks on agriculture, will have made significant progress.

Disagreements on the so-called exchange rate, or the trade-offs between industrial tariff cuts in developing countries and rich-country farm reform, could surface by mid-October when ministerial-level discussions are expected. "There is a sense that this [mid-October] is the last point at which a high-level deal can be done," said the official.

By October, it is thought, the US administration will be caught up in preparations for next year’s elections. Given that the White House’s fast-track trade negotiating powers expired in June, it may be difficult to ratify any agreement before a new administration enters into power.

Further talks aimed at concluding the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks will open next week (3 September).