WTO global trade talks collapse

[Greek soldier]

WTO global trade talks collapse

Last-ditch efforts to unblock the Doha round of global trade talks have collapsed, with fears it will take months for negotiations to resume.


A meeting of leading trading nations, the so-called G6 group, hit a stalemate after the US and Europe failed to agree over farm subsidies and tariffs.


After 14-hours of talks on Sunday, discussions reconvened to see what could be salvaged, but to no avail.


The EU has blamed the US for the talks hitting an impasse.


'Serious setback'


After assessing the situation, World Trade Organization (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy decided no more negotiations should be attempted. Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim said: "This is a serious setback, a major setback."

Continues: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5209010.stm)

Seems national egoism is far-fetched...:|

[2Sheds_Jackson]

I'm not sure what national egoism has to do with it. To attribute the breakdown to something so trivial ignores the real reasons for the impasse. I mean, it's not like we're all "USA strong! In-your-face poor people! 111one11eleven!!"

The US is a developed nation that can produce food very cheaply,but has high labor costs and produces expensive manufactured goods.

Developing nations produce expensive food, but very cheap manufactured goods. IMHO we're just trying to balance the scale so that what we lose in agriculture, we make up in manufacturing.

[caridon]

I'm not sure what national egoism has to do with it. To attribute the breakdown to something so trivial ignores the real reasons for the impasse. I mean, it's not like we're all "USA strong! In-your-face poor people! 111one11eleven!!"

The US is a developed nation that can produce food very cheaply,but has high labor costs and produces expensive manufactured goods.

Developing nations produce expensive food, but very cheap manufactured goods. IMHO we're just trying to balance the scale so that what we lose in agriculture, we make up in manufacturing.

http://www.google.se/search?q=US+export+subsidies+food&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official

Pick some sites and read up on the type of help US farmers receive.
They are the second most coddled farmers in the world (EU farmers are worse)

This is one of the reasons the talks broke down. Developing countries what the US and EU to stop export subsidies. (bur farmer lobies and large multinat food companies block this)

/C

[2Sheds_Jackson]

http://www.google.se/search?q=US+export+subsidies+food&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official

Pick some sites and read up on the type of help US farmers receive.
They are the second most coddled farmers in the world (EU farmers are worse)

This is one of the reasons the talks broke down. Developing countries what the US and EU to stop export subsidies. (bur farmer lobies and large multinat food companies block this)

/C

Well yeah, so? We choose to subsidize our farmers, and the EU chooses to subsidize Airbus and the Chinese choose to provide free health care for all and the Germans choose to pay for college education (I think so anyway) etc. It's still a negotiation - we give ground when we get the concessions in other areas that we want. We're not trying to break anybody's nuts, but of course it's the big bad US that's being mean to everybody. Why aren't they harping on the failure of emerging markets to allow unionized labor, or to implement environmental laws or safety laws - all of which would bring their labor costs up incrementally to meet ours? Just sayin'...

[XShipRider]

Having grown up in dairy country this is one topic which has always
cracked my craw. Why on earth are we paying farmers NOT to produce
a product, milk comes to mind, to keep the price artificially high?
Especially in light of the global food shortages so commonly mentioned
in the media this would seem contradictory to our humane side (as
opposed to our inhumane side).

I'm not sure if we're the only country in the world subsidizing
NON-production but it would seem to fit the US Congressional mold.

Subsidies were once a good thing but have gotten out of control. With
the advent of the corporate farm system, and plenty of local proxies
to go around, they are no longer necessary. Corporate farming is not
going to produce a product unless there's a market for said product.
Subsidies undercut this normal economic function by either; a) funding
overproduction through direct artificial price supports, or b) funding
underproduction to keep market prices artificially high.

I hear it all the time on the local blab stations how food prices are not
in line with other inflation measures. These same stations always seem
to blame it on oil prices, surely a contributing factor, but never seem
to call for diminished price supports (a.k.a. subsidies).


The EU has blamed the US for the talks hitting
an impasse.
Will be the rare person who even bothers to question this statement.:roll:

[c62]

Continues: BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5209010.stm)

Seems national egoism is far-fetched...:| There is no doubt the obvious anti-American BBC told the complete and accurate truth about the failure of the WTO talks. In the unlikely event they missed something(pure coincidence, I'm sure), I've taken the liberty to present the other side of the story Here (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205315,00.html).



The 25-nation European Union criticized U.S. intransigence over agricultural subsidies for the breakdown, while the United States blamed Brazil and India for being inflexible on cutting barriers to industrial imports and the EU for refusing to make deeper cuts in its farm import tariffs.
and


"The finger-pointing can't hide the fact that their average tariff is twice as high as ours and that their farm subsidies are more than three times what ours are," Schwab said on a conference call.
Whooops, I guess the BBC forgot this little part. The American were willing to come down, but nobody was willing to give the US anything in return.

[caridon]

Well yeah, so? We choose to subsidize our farmers, and the EU chooses to subsidize Airbus and the Chinese choose to provide free health care for all and the Germans choose to pay for college education (I think so anyway) etc. It's still a negotiation - we give ground when we get the concessions in other areas that we want. We're not trying to break anybody's nuts, but of course it's the big bad US that's being mean to everybody. Why aren't they harping on the failure of emerging markets to allow unionized labor, or to implement environmental laws or safety laws - all of which would bring their labor costs up incrementally to meet ours? Just sayin'...

This was NOT what you wrote earlier.
Earier you claimed "The US is a developed nation that can produce food very cheaply,"

This was incorrect so i pointed out that.
If you whant to talk about this other stuff then feel free, but dont try to use it to hide your faulty statements.

/C