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French president takes aim at the US as WTO negotiations flounder

GENEVA, Switzerland - 05/29/06 - Washington is reacting strongly to France's rejection of a proposal by the European Union that it could make deeper cuts to farm import tariffs with the French countercharging that it's up to the US to unlock the stalled negotiations by giving up more of the subsidies it pays to its farmers.

US officials have said remarks made by French President Jacques Chirac during a visit last week to Brazil were "uncompromising" and "unhelpful" to the World Trade Organization's uphill battle to forge a comprehensive global trade deal this year.

The European Union has given conflicting signals in recent days on its willingness to make further concessions on the WTO's sputtering Doha Round of trade negotiations, said Jason Hafemeister, chief WTO agriculture negotiator for the Office of the US Trade Reptresentative (USTR).

But for Chirac to argue that the EU has done everything it could on agricultural trade "would be a problem, as that's not going to be adequate" to unblock the Doha round, he told reporters.

"I've seen two recent quotes from Mr. Chirac," said Hafemeister. "One says that Europe is prepared to do its part in the negotiations, another says they've done everything they can. It's really not clear what these guys are going to do. We're not trying to ... negotiate in the press. We negotiate at the table [and] Europe can do more." 

The EU has been cast as the villain in the WTO talks due to its refusal to go further in cutting the generous subsidies it gives to its farmers.

Big developing countries such as Brazil and India, however, are also under pressure from the EU and the US to bring down their commercial barriers in return for farming reform in the rich blocs.

Chirac, the EU's most ardent defender of the bloc's politically-influential farming lobby, said after talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that the 25-nation bloc "could go no further without concessions from others."

Europe "is not in a position to take a single step further" on agricultural reform when others "haven't made a single step towards Europe on industry and services", Chirac told a joint news conference in Brasilia with Lula.

Chirac also called on Brazil to join with Europe "to levy friendly pressure on the Americans to make them more reasonable" over the "excessive" export support given to US farmers.

Speaking earlier, however, outgoing US Trade Representative Rob Portman said that Washington had already exceeded its Doha requirements by offering to slash its domestic support for US farmers by 60%.

That contrasts with what Hafemeister called the "take-it-or-leave-it stance" of the EU on agriculture, and the "puny" cuts to industrial tariffs offered by some developing countries.

At talks in Paris last week, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson signaled that the bloc would be prepared to improve its offer on farm products if others are willing to cede ground.

Hafemeister joined other US trade officials in throwing a blanket on the offer, arguing that no formal or informal proposals had been presented in Paris.

"Just a minor move at the last minute is not going to make it," he said. "Until we see real serious proposals from other countries, there's a big void in the negotiations here."

US officials say that Crawford Falconer, New Zealand's WTO ambassador who is chairing the agricultural talks in Geneva, is preparing to submit new outlines of a deal within the nest two weeks.

But that will leave precious little time to sign, seal and deliver a global package to dismantle world trade barriers by the end of the year.

The US government would then have just months to get a WTO deal through Congress before the White House loses its "fast-track" Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) at the start of July 2007.

Once the Bush Administration's TPA expires, Congress will regain the right to amend any trade agreement. At present, US lawmakers can only give a straight "yes" or "no" vote to an agreement.

Without a serious effort this summer, "you just start running out of time", said Hafemeister.

"It's true that Europe really is going to have to set the standard. We can't expect developing countries to cut their tariffs deeper than the European Union. That's why everybody is focused on Europe," he concluded.

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