Rules talks on all outstanding issues or only on fisheries subsidies?

The scope of discussion in the WTO rules negotiations remains uncertain, with the US seeking to limit the focus to fisheries subsidies.

by D. Ravi Kanth

GENEVA: Many developing and several industrialized countries on 25 May demanded negotiations to address all the outstanding issues in the Doha rules talks at the WTO, but the United States wants to negotiate only fisheries subsidies, and that too based on controversial “new approaches”, trade negotiators told the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS).

Industrialized countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada along with the United States are selectively using, for the first time, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted last year, to start the negotiations on fisheries subsidies.

Last year, the US and its Cairns Group allies blocked the permanent solution for public stockholding programmes for food security purposes demanded by developing countries on the basis of the SDGs.

The developed countries terminated their engagement in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations even as Lesotho on behalf of African countries and several other developing countries demanded the continuation of the DDA talks based on the SDG priorities, several developing-country negotiators pointed out.

These glaring “hypocritical” positions of the industrialized countries came into full display at an informal meeting of the Doha rules negotiating group on 25 May, an African negotiator told SUNS.

The US stance to exclude from the rules talks anti-dumping and horizontal subsidies (and other US practices in this area) and focus only on fisheries subsidies is a clear diversionary tactic, the negotiator suggested.

 In contrast to the US position, several developed and developing countries pressed for multilateral solutions to outstanding issues in the Doha rules negotiations covering fisheries subsidies, improvements in anti-dumping and horizontal subsidy provisions, and transparency aspects in regional trade agreements, an Asian negotiator told SUNS.

The “friends of the fish” group led by New Zealand queered the pitch for an outcome on fisheries subsidies.

The EU, China, India, Norway and Japan, among others, respectively called for improving anti-dumping provisions, addressing horizontal subsidies, and other issues.

At the 25 May informal meeting of the Doha rules negotiating group, many members concurred with the chair of the rules negotiations, Ambassador Wayne McCook of Jamaica, on starting a serious negotiating process to discuss all issues without prioritizing any issue at this juncture.

McCook said members are interested in securing multilateral outcomes on the rules dossier at the WTO’s eleventh Ministerial Conference by the end of next year.

In a negotiating process, “you don’t end where you begin or begin where you end,” McCook told SUNS.

In his summing up at the meeting, the chair said that “diktats” and “decrees” must not guide negotiations, suggesting that there is a need for a hard, bottom-up and transparent negotiating process that members have to undergo for arriving at multilateral solutions.

He told the meeting he would reconvene the negotiating group at an appropriate time in order to give members a chance to react to the proposal put forward by New Zealand and other co-sponsors.

Fisheries subsidies

During the meeting, New Zealand, on behalf of the “friends of the fish”, had raised the stakes on having outcomes on fisheries subsidies, a demand that was supported by several countries. It circulated a set of questions on fisheries subsidies based on the goals set out by the SDGs.

An outcome on fisheries subsidies based on the SDGs garnered support from both industrialized and developing countries, including the United States.

The co-sponsors of the proposal on fisheries subsidies, said New Zealand, “pose a series of questions with a view to sharing information on such developments as a background for further discussions on fisheries subsidies disciplines in the Rules Negotiating Group (RNG) to achieve SDG Target 14.6.”

The questions include:

1. If you have or have had fisheries subsidies, what are the key developments in your fisheries subsidies in recent years?

2. If you have fisheries subsidies, what are their primary objectives and to what extent are they delivering on these objectives?

3. What are the main drivers for reforming and/or maintaining your fisheries subsidies?

(a) Are they political, economic, environmental, developmental, welfare or a mixture of these?

(b) How do these factors balance with fiscal pressures?

(c) What has been the impact of falling oil prices?

4. Where might the political economy of reform of fisheries subsidies be less challenging or difficult? Which areas might be more challenging and why?

5. How might the RNG process going forward be structured best to establish fisheries subsidies disciplines to achieve SDG Target 14.6?

The demand for an outcome on fisheries subsidies received broad support across all continents. Although members want a multilateral outcome on fisheries subsidies, the US is suggesting a plurilateral solution.

But China cautioned against cherry-picking issues in the rules dossier without addressing the remaining issues such as improvements in anti-dumping and horizontal subsidies.

China along with India and several other developing countries called for a “balanced” outcome in all areas of the rules negotiations based on the Doha mandate and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. The developing countries said the S&DT architecture must guide the rules negotiations towards multilateral outcomes.

The “friends of anti-dumping” group led by Japan, who are yet to come out with concrete proposals unlike the “friends of the fish” group, underscored the need to start with transparency-related issues concerning anti-dumping actions.

The EU made a strong case for addressing horizontal subsidies, while Russia underlined the importance of dealing with improvements in anti-dumping and countervailing measures.

The US stuck to its own position about pursuing new approaches based on the outcomes in the Nairobi ministerial meeting. However, the US call failed to secure any support during the meeting. (SUNS8249)

Third World Economics, Issue No. 616/617, 1-31 May 2016, pp11-12