Cancun Ministerial Fails to Move Global Trade Negotiations Forward; Next Steps Uncertain
United States General Accounting Office Report to the Chairman, Committee on GAO Finance, U.S. Senate, and to the Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives January 2004 WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION Cancun Ministerial Fails to Move Global Trade Negotiations Forward; Next Steps Uncertain a GAO-04-250 January 2004 WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION Cancun Ministerial Fails to Move Global Trade Negotiations Forward; Next Steps Highlights of GAO-04-250, a report to the Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Uncertain Senate, and to the Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives Trade ministers from 146 members Ministers attending the September 2003 Cancun Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization remained sharply divided on handling key issues: agricultural reform, adding (WTO), representing 93 percent of global commerce, convened in new subjects for WTO commitments, nonagricultural market access, Cancun, Mexico, in September services (such as financial and telecommunications services), and special 2003. Their goal was to provide and differential treatment for developing countries. Many participants direction for ongoing trade agreed that attaining agricultural reform was essential to making progress on negotiations involving a broad set other issues. However, ministers disagreed on how each nation would cut of issues that included agriculture, tariffs and subsidies. Key countries rejected as inadequate proposed U.S. and nonagricultural market access, European Union reductions in subsidies, but the U.S. and EU felt key services, and special treatment for developing nations were not contributing to reform by agreeing to open their developing countries. These markets. Ministers did not assuage West African nations’ concerns about negotiations, part of the global disruption in world cotton markets: The United States and others saw round of trade liberalizing talks requests for compensation as inappropriate and tied subsidy cuts to launched in November 2001 at Doha, Qatar, are an important attaining longer-term agricultural reform.
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