US for enhanced mkt access to 1,600 goods in India, China, Brazil

The United States (US) wants enhanced market access to about 1,600 industrial goods (tariff lines) in China, India and Brazil to enable Washington to conclude the stalled Doha trade negotiations, said trade diplomats.

During a closed-door meeting of the G-5 countries, hosted by the US and involving the European Union (EU), China, India and Brazil in Paris last month, the US handed over what officials called a sample list of about 1,600 industrial products to the three emerging countries in which Washington wanted increased market opening as part of the Doha industrial goods negotiations.

While the US’ list given to India included largely chemical products, the wish list to China covered medical equipment, said the trade diplomats.

 

The US said it was only a sample list, implying it could undergo changes depending on further consultations.

Effectively, the US wanted to ensure the emerging countries did not avail of the flexibility of sensitive products which could be sheltered from steep tariff cuts, learnt Business Standard.

The US industrial and farm lobbies have repeatedly maintained that without enhanced market access from the emerging countries China, India and Brazil, it would be difficult for them to accept the Doha package. The US industrial lobbies had pressed for enhanced access to chemicals, industrial products and electricals and electronics as part of the sectoral tariff elimination in the Doha industrial goods negotiations.

The US, however, did not indicate what it would pay in return to the emerging countries that had their specific demands for enhanced market access in America. “There was no discussion about quid pro quo,” said officials familiar with the meeting.

The Paris meeting ended without any agreement, trade officials said, casting doubts whether there would be room for such meetings among the five members.

Meanwhile, the EU, which was extremely unhappy with the lack of progress in the Doha trade negotiation, would convene another meeting of senior trade officials/envoys from 18 industrialised, developing and least developed countries later this month to discuss the “way-forward” in the stalled Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.

The EU’s two-day meeting, which would begin on May 19, was conceived in response to concerns raised by China, India and Brazil during the Paris G-5 meeting, trade envoys said.

The three countries insisted that consultations on unresolved issues in various Doha dossiers could not be limited to a small group of members. They underscored the need for “inclusiveness” by involving representatives of other countries, particularly the representatives of major coalitions.

Consequently, the EU took the initiative to convene the broad-based meeting of 18 countries. Participants for the EU’s meeting would include the US, China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, Barbados, Mauritius, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Mexico and Gabon.