Brussels, 08/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The re-launch of the Doha talks, which stalled last July, were due to be at the centre of Monday's discussions in Washington between Commission President José Manuel Barros and US President George W Bush, and, in parallel, between European and US negotiators, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and US Trade Representative Suasan Schwab. At stake is the reduction of the ceiling on US annual domestic subsidies for agriculture from $23 billion to $15 billion sought by the EU in return for further reduction in its agricultural customs duties, which it has said it was ready to grant to come closer, with an average reduction of over 51%, to the demands of the G20 emerging nations. The Euro-American agricultural compromise is the key to unblocking negotiations: once validated by the G6 trading powers (the EU, the US, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) and if it encourages emerging nations to further open their markets to manufactured goods (NAMA) and services, it could open the way to an overall agreement.
According to Monday's Financial Times, there is every reason for hope for a compromise to be found by the end of the month. After a series of technical and political meetings between Europeans and Americans, “it is clear that the gap between us on agriculture is no longer such to dismiss hope of a successful outcome”, Mr Mandelson told the British daily, before expressing his confidence in President Bush's desire to reach agreement. According to several sources quoted by the FT, personal interventions by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been decisive in convincing Mr Bush to discuss with the Commission delegation. “It is at this crucial stage when you reach the end game that you need the president's authority to help us do a deal,” Mr Mandelson added, confident that the Doha Round could be re-launched after the new US Congress, which is now under Democrat control, takes office, and before the introduction, in March, of a new Farm Bill in the United States and the expiry of the US administration's negotiating mandate, the Trade Promotion Authority. Giving assurances that Washington was ready to renew its efforts on agricultural subsidies, Ms Schwab was nonetheless much more cautious: she told the FT that she felt that the current discussions were making progress, but that they weren't there yet. She also underlined the need for greater progress on the technical level. “The challenges that we face in trying to find our way clear to a breakthrough in Doha are no less than they were last year”, she concluded. (eh)