U.S. Welcomes G20, Australia Movement on Market Access
G20 proposes the percent of sensitive products should be no more than 1%, echoing the U.S. proposal.
Compiled by staff
Published: Oct 20, 2005
The G20 and Australia demonstrated willingness to move forward in the area of market access with a proposal presented Wednesday. Agriculture is the key to breaking the deadlock and moving the World Trade Organization round of talks back on schedule.
A statement from the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Rob Portman says the G20 group of developing nations, including India and Brazil, agreed to the U.S. proposal calling for a limit on the number of sensitive products to no more than 1% that would be treated separately from the tariff formula reductions.
"For Doha to achieve the goals set forth in the July 2004 framework, all WTO Members must provide improved and substantial market access," Portman says. "To the degree there are numerous exceptions to formula tariff cuts in agriculture — market access will be diminished."
Portman explains that World Bank economists calculate that 93% of the global benefits from removing distortions in agriculture would come from market access. "That is why the United States is calling for dramatic tariff reductions for developed countries — no less than 55% and up to 90%," he says.
The current EU proposal on the table allows for 8% of tariffs, 160 different tariffs lines, to be deemed "sensitive" and thus exempt from strong cuts. "On the heels of the G20 and Australian offerings on sensitive products, we hope to see much more ambition from the EU," Portman says.
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