NAIROBI, July 25 (HANA)—The United States said on Tuesday that it rejected the deadlocked World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement because it was unfair to Africa.
The U.S. statement came as African countries restrained comment on the latest deadlock at the WTO as the European Union and Washington begun to exchange blame over who was responsible for the flop of the Doha Round.
African countries were counting on the success of the Doha Round of talks, which was limping towards a concession on drastic reductions of the external taxes charged on African products entering the European markets and wider market access for goods.
The US and the European Union traded blame on Tuesday, hours after the WTO Director-General Pascal Lammy, a former EU Trade Commissioner, declared the Doha Round officially deadlocked and hence, collapsed following failure to reach an accord.
“The United States went to Geneva prepared to cut a good deal but the G-8 mandate for increased market access has not been met,” the US embassy in Nairobi said in a statement. The US said it hoped the EU would grant Africa better market access.
US trade Representative Susan Schwab was quoted as saying the US was fully committed to reaching an agreement on the global trading system but could not sign a European Union proposal to allow it (EU) more room to exploit opportunities in Africa.
“The US is already well ahead of other countries on providing market access for agricultural products as evidenced by an average tariff on agricultural products of 12 percent compared to EU’s average of 24 percent and WTO members average of 62 percent,” the US embassy explained in the statement.
African exporters have been drastically affected by the market entry restrictions in mainly Europe, where they say products such as vegetables are subjected to rigorous screening and testing methods, making it impossible for small-scale farmers to penetrate the market.
Peter Mendelsson, the EU Trade Commissioner, said the talks collapsed due to America’s inflexibility, adding that Washington was applying trade-distorting subsidies.
However, the Americans said they realized that after studying the EU proposals on taxation for beef products, they realized that the EU was only ready to offer 160,000 tonnes for the rest of the world to enter duty-free.
The Americans said the “tariff loopholes” would further affect exporters entering the European markets and erode further benefits that Africa and other countries are currently enjoying.
Americans said they initiated the WTO talks after the Cancun debacle when a group of African countries led the rest of the world in dismissing proposals tabled by the two powers, the EU and the US and demanded a fairer deal which takes care of her development needs.
“We remain committed to achieving this objective and will continue to pursue an agreement in agriculture, manufacturing and services that will open new markets for all WTO members,” the US embassy said. Enditem
