US trade chief eyes dramatic progress in WTO talks

Months of behind-the-scenes work could lead to dramatic progress in world trade talks next week when top trade officials from the United States, European Union, Brazil and India meet in Potsdam, Germany, the chief US negotiator said on Thursday.
"We're really hoping we can move the ball forward and ideally move it forward dramatically," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told Reuters in an interview. "The United States is committed to doing our share and then some" to reach a final deal in the talks, she said.
With the US presidential election approaching and the White House's "fast-track" trade negotiating effectively expired, many believe next week's G4 trade ministers' meeting is the last chance for the Doha round of world trade talks launched in November 2001.
Schwab rejected that notion, but said she hoped the G4 trading partners would make progress on the "contours of a deal" they could recommend to the broader membership of the World Trade Organisation.
"We have been able to demonstrate that if you keep at it and you're willing to roll up your sleeves and get into an excruciating level of detail, you can actually make progress. And we've been making progress," Schwab said. Any breakthrough must include new market openings for services and manufacturing in addition to cutting agricultural subsidies and tariffs, she added.
Recent demands by developing countries to be spared from any real cuts in their manufacturing tariffs could "be the death knell of the (Doha) development round," Schwab said.
"I'm hoping that the serious players in this negotiation understand if you want a development outcome, you really have to cut into applied rates," Schwab said. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy suspended the WTO negotiations in July 2006 after major trading partners again failed to agree on how far to cut farm subsidies and tariffs.
The United States has proposed cutting its maximum WTO allowance for trade-distorting domestic subsidies by 53 percent to $22.5 billion. Many countries complain that actually would allow it to boost spending from current levels since the United States does not meet its maximum.