Hardening impasse on Doha Round, but no TNC meets so far

Even with the Doha Round talks at a standstill amid a lack of engagement by the US, the WTO Director-General is yet to convene a meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee, which he chairs, to look into the deadlock.

by D. Ravi Kanth

GENEVA: Multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the Doha Work Programme, more popularly known as the Doha Development Round (DDR) negotiations, seem to be at a hardening impasse in key areas, post-Nairobi Ministerial Conference, but the chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) has yet to schedule a meeting to address the impasse, according to several trade envoys.

Though he is the chair of the TNC, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo is yet to schedule a TNC meeting to take stock of the impasse in the rules negotiations on fisheries subsidies and other issues, because of United States opposition to negotiating multilateral disciplines for various outstanding issues in the Doha Work Programme, several trade envoys told the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS).

Since the WTO’s tenth Ministerial Conference at Nairobi last December, Azevedo has not convened a proper TNC meeting, although he spoke to the WTO General Council on 24 February in his capacity as TNC chair and at an informal meeting with trade envoys on 10 February. An informal meeting of heads of delegation was also held on 9 May.

US call for new approaches

On 29 June, the US issued a strong statement at the Doha Round rules negotiating group saying Washington doesn’t see any compelling set of circumstances to re-engage in the group on fisheries subsidies. It said categorically that continuing work in Doha negotiating bodies is difficult. The US emphasized the importance of adopting new approaches and suggested that there cannot be negotiations without those approaches. However, the US has not spelled out what in its view ought to be the new approaches, according to trade envoys familiar with the meeting.

The US asked members to find new paths forward for undertaking negotiations at the WTO. It suggested the need for pursuing new paths with like-minded members for arriving at robust disciplines to curb fisheries subsidies. The US showed willingness to discuss improvements in horizontal subsidies as proposed by the EU, but on the basis of new ideas.

Paragraph 31 of the Ministerial Declaration adopted at Nairobi has emphasized that “there remains a strong commitment of all Members to advance negotiations on the remaining Doha issues. This includes advancing work in all three pillars of agriculture, namely domestic support, market access and export competition, as well as non-agriculture market access, services, development, TRIPS and rules. Work on all the Ministerial Decisions adopted in Part II of this Declaration will remain an important element of our future agenda.”

But the US position has created “negotiating chaos” at the rules group meeting, said a trade envoy from a major industrialized country who asked not to be quoted.

Washington’s stand has upset both developed and developing countries as it would close the door to arriving at multilateral disciplines on issues such as fisheries subsidies, which have global impact, and improvements in anti-dumping provisions, which have a chilling effect on global trade, the envoy said.

“If the US is interested only in plurilateral outcomes, then the WTO’s Director-General, who is also the chair for the TNC, must speak out about the role of Doha negotiating bodies dealing with agriculture, industrial goods, rules and services,” the envoy said.

At a time when there is appetite for negotiating various issues in the Doha services negotiating body, including the ambitious US work programme on electronic commerce, why not pursue the outstanding issues in the Doha agriculture, industrial goods and rules talks as well, the envoy asked.

In response to the US position, the chair of the Doha negotiating body on rules, Ambassador Wayne McCook, informed members at the 29 June meeting that he will convey the US view to the TNC, the trade envoy noted.

Clearly, all these issues would have been discussed at the meetings of the chairs of the various negotiating bodies with the Director-General. The chairs must have surely conveyed to the TNC head about the emerging developments in different negotiating bodies in which the US has adopted a consistent position that without new approaches it is not willing to discuss the outstanding issues, several trade envoys said.

The Director-General, however, has chosen to remain conspicuously silent on these developments, said an African trade envoy. He has convened an informal heads-of-delegation meeting on 25 July, followed by a meeting of the General Council on 27 July. “Instead of the informal heads-of-delegation meeting, he must convene a TNC meeting to provide his assessment on the impasse in the rules and other negotiating bodies such as Doha market access for industrial goods,” the envoy said.

Azevedo has also remained silent about the crisis in the WTO’s highest adjudicating body after the US blocked the reappointment of the Appellate Body member Seung Wha Chang.

Effectively, the WTO is facing multiple systemic crises in which both the negotiating arm and the adjudicating body are hollowed out because of opposition from one member – the United States – said another trade envoy.

“Everybody in town knows that the DG acts only when there is a green signal from the US,” the envoy suggested.

Significantly, Azevedo participated in a meeting of trade ministers pursuing a plurilateral initiative on environmental goods in Shanghai on 10 July. But he is not prepared to convene a TNC meeting to discuss the enveloping systemic crisis in the WTO negotiating bodies because of the intransigent positions adopted by one member, the envoy pointed out.

In short, the WTO is held hostage to the US positions and Azevedo seems happy not to challenge his powerful patron, the envoy suggested. (SUNS8280)

Third World Economics, Issue No. 619/620, 16 June – 15 July 2016, pp2-3