World Economy: INTERVIEW - WTO: "France is losing comprehensively"

Jul 30, 2008

INTERVIEW - WTO: "France is losing comprehensively"

Negotiations in the WTO on global trade ended in failure. Meeting in Geneva during 9 days, the 153 member countries have not reached agreement on further liberalization. Yvan Decreux, an economist at the Center for prospective studies and international information (CEPII), a specialist in trade policy, explains the point.fr that this does not mean the end of the cycle of trade negotiations. And remains optimistic about the possibility of concluding the Doha round of negotiations quickly.

Lepoint.fr: What are the consequences of the failure of negotiations at the WTO for global commerce?

Yvan Decreux: In the short term, we can not say that to change much, because prices of agricultural commodities are very high. The negotiations focused on reducing production subsidies, lower tariffs and export subsidies. But they are in fact already very low compared to prices of commodities. This means that the current issue of negotiation was relatively low except for some products such as sugar and meat. In the future, however, the consequences of this impasse could be more important for world trade if prices were to fall.

Lepoint.fr: The end of negotiations means she burial cycle of trade negotiations in Doha lying since 2001?

Y. D. : No, this is a failure of the discussions but not the Doha Round. A further meeting may take place next year, if not sooner. Pascal Lamy (Editor's note, the Director General of french WTO) has strategically chosen to terminate discussions heavy nine days because some countries have been blocking. There was no chance of success now. But that does not mean that Pascal Lamy has lost all hope to conclude the cycle. The next concert will probably be good because some countries initially opposed to an agreement are now in favour. Even in India, partly responsible for the impasse, reaffirmed its willingness to conclude the cycle. It must now be negotiations distance between countries that still opposed to reconcile the points of view before convening another meeting. But the discussion has enabled progress on a number of important issues.

Lepoint.fr: How the changing balance of forces there between different countries?

Y. D. : In a way, we can say that a balance between North and South was reached during these negotiations. The efforts required to Southern countries have been further reduced. The least developed countries are exempted from protection to reduce their production while emerging countries (China, India, Argentina, Brazil ...) should make efforts on the industry. It remains, however, disagreements between the North and between countries. For example, African and Latin American countries have opposed on the banana market, while Europe has shown flexibility on the subject to reach a compromise. Among the North, the USA and Canada did not want to hear about the recognition of geographical indications for certain products sought by Europeans.

Lepoint.fr: France sort-winning or losing it to the postponement of negotiations?

Y. D. : France could expect to benefit from a further liberalization in the services sector and industry. Overall, it is therefore losing. But this report, which should be short, could also enable it to obtain concessions on certain issues which relate to heart at future discussions, such as recognition of appellations of origin. Of the remaining agricultural topics, however, I do not think that further compromise more favourable to France can be obtained in the future.

World Economy

INTERVIEW - WTO: "France is losing comprehensively"

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