Washington: Stating that decade-old Doha agenda remain a challenge and "new tests" are on the horizon, a top American trade official Wednesday told US lawmakers that the time has come for the WTO to position itself to conclude Doha round of negotiations and take up fresh areas of trade.
Testifying before a Congressional Committee, the Deputy US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Punke, told lawmakers that Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) was the first successful conclusion of multilateral trade negotiations in the two-decade history of the WTO.
"The TFA, in and of itself, is a huge accomplishment for the WTO, re-establishing that its Members can reach significant outcomes on a multilateral basis. Admittedly, the rest of the Doha agenda, which was launched more than a decade ago, remains a challenge, and new tests are on the horizon," he said in his remarks before the House Committee on Ways & Means Subcommittee on Trade.
The Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the World Trade Organization (WTO) membership. Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules. The work programme covers about 20 areas of trade. The Round was officially launched at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001.
"Looking to the post-Doha era, the WTO is moving to develop a Post-Bali Work Program by the end of this year. This Work Program should go a long way towards determining whether a rapid conclusion of the Doha Round is possible," Punke said.
"The worst-case scenario for the WTO after the Bali success would be renewed drift in the Doha Round negotiations. The time has come for the WTO to position itself to conclude Doha, move forward, and take up new areas of trade," he said.
Punke told lawmakers that while the US supports a definitive conclusion of the Doha chapter - which has gone on far too long ? the Obama Administration cannot support just any deal.
"A final Doha agreement, if there is to be one, must address key US priorities not addressed in the Bali Package, including in agriculture, industrial market access, and services," he said.
"There will be no Doha result without balance across all of these areas, as well as a balance of commitments across all of the major trading countries.
"The United States will not sign on to a Doha package that requires us to provide new market opening commitments, but provides nothing substantial from our major trading partners," Punke stated.
"It is clear that for Doha to succeed, the emerging developing countries - those with large and growing economies that have benefited so much from increased global trade - must contribute appropriately to any outcome.
"This question of the responsibilities of emerging markets has been the core reality and stumbling block of the Doha Round for years now, and until it is resolved in a satisfactory way, the WTO will not live up to its full potential," Punke said.
Referring to the trade disputes with other countries, Punke said when direct engagement with a trading partner is not successful, the US does not hesitate to use WTO dispute settlement to help preserve and support American jobs threatened by WTO-inconsistent practices wherever they may occur.
The United States has brought 18 WTO complaints since 2009, with a focus on opening large, strategic markets, and combatting policies and practices of concern to American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses, he said.
"We have brought disputes in areas such as trade-distorting subsidies, export restraints on raw materials, import licensing barriers for industrial and agricultural products, local content requirements, retaliatory use of trade remedies, and non-science-based SPS measures.
"Those disputes involve major trading partners and markets such as China, India, Indonesia, and Argentina," Punke said.
"As a result, we have had significant successes, obtaining WTO findings on China's misuse of trade remedies on autos, chicken broiler products, and specialty steel; Chinese export duties and quotas on key raw materials; and China's market access barriers to US electronic payment services suppliers," he told the lawmakers.
