GENEVA — High-level talks between trade ministers from the U.S., European Union, India, Brazil, Japan and Australia here on Friday and Saturday failed to narrow differences toward a global deal to lower trade barriers.
Ministers from the World Trade Organization’s 148 countries are set to meet in Hong Kong starting Dec. 13 in a bid to advance the Doha Round of global trade talks aimed at reducing or eliminating import tariffs.
“The pieces have to come together into a puzzle and we have some pieces missing,” U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said in a news conference Saturday. “So my expectations for Hong Kong are that it will be stock-taking.”
Portman said he doesn’t have high hopes for Hong Kong.
“I just don’t see it because I don’t see the stars aligning in a way that we can make the kind of breakthroughs that I would like to see,” he said. “I do hope shortly after Hong Kong that we will have the ability through more intensive negotiations to make some of those breakthroughs.”
The inability of the EU to agree to steeper cuts in agricultural subsidies remains the biggest hurdle blocking movement in other key areas such as lowering barriers on industrial goods and commercial services.
“As far as agriculture is concerned, there are still differences of opinion,” said Mark Vaile, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade.
Industrial powers such as the EU, U.S. and Japan are leaning on major emerging countries such as Brazil and India to put forward more ambitious market-opening offers on trade in industrial goods and commercial services.
Brazil and India offered concessions on industrial goods and services on Saturday to break an impasse, but made clear developed countries must at least match their moves.
At a meeting with finance ministers from the G7 industrialized nations in London, India offered to lower its tariff barriers by more than the 50 percent if developed economies could match or exceed their offer. Brazil said it was ready to concede some ground on industrial tariffs as long as the U.S. and the EU did the same on agriculture.
A USTR spokeswoman said, “We welcome the fresh signals of determination from Brazil and India on their readiness to contribute to a major outcome in the WTO Doha Development Round. It is particularly helpful given the current state of affairs in the negotiations and the need to create momentum in the negotiations overall and in agriculture in particular.”