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Report comes as Europeans gear-up to craft free trade pacts with India, South Korea and others

NEW YORK – 11/20/08 – President-elect Barack Obama should do all it can to complete the long-stalled Doha Round of global trade talks, say several corporate chief executives in a recent CEO Council report compiled and published by the Wall Street Journal.

But they acknowledged that the move is more important for its symbolic value than for any deal that may come out of it, the report said.

“The Obama Administration should embrace and try to close the Doha Round as soon as possible,” said Yang Yuanquing, chief executive of Lenovo, speaking for a group of CEOs interviewed for the report.

“Either get to the deal or collapse,” he said. In fact, the CEOs also seemed to think that chances were better that a completed Doha wouldn’t achieve its goals. They suggested that after Doha is finished, the WTO “should be more focused on sector-by-sector trade deals.”

But even if Doha collapses, Obama’s support for the trade talks “would counter a protectionist notion.” Fears were raised during the presidential campaign that Obama “would pursue a more protectionist stance in matters of trade,” according to the report.

The Doha Round trade talks, which began in 2001, has been deadlocked in the past seven years over a variety of issues, primarily in the area of global agricultural trade.

New York Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer responded to the report saying that the Obama Administration and “Democrats in general “think we should trade in the global world.”

But he raised concerns about income inequality, saying business and government must work together to “cushion the blow.” Prosperity, Schumer said, “doesn’t trickle down the way it used to. We deal in intangibles. The same kind of wealth is created, but the creator of the idea captures more of the income.”

The report comes as the European Union (EU)'s new trade chief is urging the US to “play its role” in jump-starting the long-stalled Doha Round."

Particularly at a time when the economies of the world face turbulence, we need to redouble our efforts to make sure we have agreement, and America has a very clear and strong place to play in that," the newly appointed EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton told a recent hearing at the European Parliament's trade committee.

Ashton said she will continue to put the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks at the core of the EU trade policy.

"My first visit will be to Geneva to assure [WTO chief] Pascal Lamy that the WTO and pursuing a successful Doha round remains absolutely central to Europe's trade policy," she said.

Ashton was appointed as EU Trade Commissioner earlier this month, replacing Peter Mandelson, who resigned to join the British cabinet.

Ashton, who was the leader of the UK’s House of Lords, told the parliament's trade committee that her top priority would be reaching an agreement at the WTO to cut tariffs and subsidies and that the current global financial crisis “makes reducing trade barriers even more important.”

She also pledged to push for free-trade agreements between the EU and India, South Korea and southeast Asian nations.

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