© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Delegates pose for a family photo during the 13th WTO ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 26, 2024. REUTERS/Abdel Hadi Ramahi/File Photo
By Emma Farge
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators released new draft deals on Friday showing that all-night talks in Abu Dhabi had failed to produce a breakthrough on key issues, leading to a third extension for the delegates to reach an agreement.
Most of the issues are seen as linked and hostage to each other, although some trade sources say that a deal on fishing could be possible on its own.
Here is where things stand on the fifth day of talks.
AGRICULTURE
– Negotiators say that the success of a series of WTO deals will depend on agriculture talks where India is leading a drive for reforms. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai described these talks as “hard”.
– India, which is facing farmer protests at home and has elections due by May, wants a permanent solution on public stockholding (PSH) – a term that refers to state policies on food procurement aimed at ensuring food security.
– In the latest version of the draft agreement issued on Friday morning two alternative solutions sit side-by-side in parentheses, indicating they have not been agreed.
– One aims to find a permanent solution to the issue at this meeting and the other one commits to intensify negotiations and extend to other developing countries the privileges only India currently enjoys under WTO rules.
– India rejected the second proposal, intended to appease them, in talks between a few key countries including the United States, Brazil and China, a source in the room said.
E-COMMERCE
– Several countries, including India and South Africa, remain opposed to the extension of a moratorium on e-commerce backed by the vast majority of countries and seen as vital to businesses to avoid tariffs on digital goods like film downloads.
– Trade sources told Reuters that additional countries would also oppose the moratorium, including Brazil, if there is no progress on agriculture talks. Brazil has not publicly commented on its position.
– New Zealand’s trade minister Todd McClay, who is facilitating the e-commerce talks, told Reuters he would like to see a more durable solution to the waiver, so it is not raised at each biennial WTO meeting.
– On the plus side, a draft programme has been agreed for future work beyond Abu Dhabi.
FISHERIES
– Countries are trying to agree to the second part of an international WTO agreement to curb government subsidies that critics say encourage industrial fishing fleets to empty the world’s oceans. A first part was agreed in 2022 and will take effect if and when enough countries ratify it.
– Many participants, including USTR’s Tai, see this as the most likely topic where a deal can be reached in Abu Dhabi if outstanding issues can be resolved. Environmentalists say it is vital for the world’s oceans.
– The chair of the talks issued a new draft agreement on Friday morning with a few sections still in yellow, indicating areas of non-agreement.
– A major one is rules governing phase-in periods for subsidies for developing countries. This group would usually get special exemptions from WTO rules but, with fishing, includes many of the major subsidisers such as China and India.
– The draft text says the rules take effect after “X” years. Negotiators say this could range anywhere between seven and 25 years, as sought by India.
– Another question is whether China, the biggest subsidiser, will make good on a pledge to formally forego special rules that apply to developing countries – a condition which many countries say they need in writing in order to approve the deal.
– A new article was added in the latest draft aimed at appeasing a grouping of Pacific islands which complained the deal was not ambitious enough. This commits countries to a WTO review in five years and includes the possibility of new “limitations and reduction commitments to subsidies” for big subsidisers like Japan, China and the European Union.
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
– Countries are set to agree to commit to continue negotiations in 2024 to try to resolve a crisis in its dispute settlement system whose top court has been hobbled for four years due to U.S. opposition.
– This means many trade disputes are unresolved and the WTO’s rules cannot be enforced.
– India’s minister Goyal has said it is “sad” countries are obstructing outcomes. He did not mention Washington directly but said he had raised a lack of progress on fixing the WTO’s dispute system with USTR’s Tai in a meeting earlier this week.
– Tai has said negotiations on this issue are positive and have shown progress. However, delegates say obstacles abound and are privately sceptical of them making much further headway in a U.S. presidential election year.
