Brussels, 13/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The United States has rejected the latest “deeply disappointing” proposals made by the European Union on the reduction of customs duties on farm produce (EUROPE 9045 and EUROPE/Documents No2422). These proposals, presented in Geneva on Wednesday by European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson would only result in an average fall of 24.5% in customs duties practised by Europeans on their agricultural imports, US Trade Representative Rob Portman told the press at the WTO headquarters. He went on to add that this is far from the average 36% fall that had been required of developed countries during the Uruguay Round. “By any objective standard the EU proposal doesn't come close to meeting the expectations that all of us have on market access”, Mr Portman stressed. The United States therefore continues to await offers from the EU and other partners that will open up the road to real improvements in market access for all products. “Time is running out”, Mr Portman stressed. The European proposal foresees a fall in customs duties between 20% and 50%, while the United States - which would like to be able to step up its exports to the EU - is calling for 55% to 90% cuts.
On Thursday, two months to the day before the ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said he was cautiously confident that, after the intense talks backed up with figures this week in Geneva, negotiations may be given fresh impetus in coming days and weeks. “My own sense is that the engines of the negotiating plane have been switched on again. But I'm not sure it's enough to take us to the right approach zone. The ambition is to start gaining altitude, to reach the right corridor”, for Hong Kong, he told the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) of the WTO. Mr Lamy was above all pleased with the new American and European proposals which, although they did not receive unanimous approval, nonetheless allowed fresh impetus to be given to the negotiations. “This multiplication of proposals is a good sign”, he said. Nonetheless, “everybody will have to move”, Mr Lamy went on, concluding: “During our last meeting (of the TNC) it was a matter of weeks. Now it is days”.