Row overshadows new trade talks

Campaigners in Doha called for a greater role for poor countries

By BBC News Online's Steve Schifferes

The future of world trade talks has been put into doubt by a disagreement over who will chair the negotiating sessions.

In November, the 144 countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed in Doha to launch a new trade round aimed at liberalising further the world trading system - seen as even more vital now that there is a global economic slowdown.

Mike Moore: WTO boss under fire

Negotiations on detailed proposals are meant to begin in Geneva on Monday - but now some developing countries are objecting to WTO director general Mike Moore leading the talks.

They want a rotating chairman drawn from among the participants in the talks.

Mr Moore and the man who will take over as WTO boss in September - Thailand's former deputy prime minister Supachai Panichpakdhi - both want to keep control of the negotiations.

Behind the row is the concern that the trade talks will not pay enough attention to the needs of poor countries, despite assurances given during the Doha negotiations.

Inauspicious launch

The conflict between rich and poor countries over the trade agenda has been building for some time.

Many less developed countries want the trade talks to focus on opening up Western agricultural markets - now heavily protected by subsidies - to their products.

They also want to ensure that the commitments made at the last trade round - especially to open markets to textile and clothing products - are honoured.

In addition, they are resisting demands from rich countries for the further liberalisation of areas such as investment and competition policy, which would give Western multinationals greater rights to invest in developing countries without restriction.

At Doha, it was agreed that these talks would only go ahead in two years' time if there was consensus at the next ministerial meeting in Mexico.

But now the developing countries have become "increasingly confident", says John Hilary, trade policy advisor to Save the Children.

There is "growing swell of opinion" against including these issues, which were pushed by the European Union's trade commissioner Pascal Lamy during the Doha talks, he adds.

And he warned that the negotiations would not be a success if they offered "so little for the poor".

US-EU conflict

Meanwhile, Mr Lamy was in Washington last week trying to resolve a growing trade row between the United States and the European Union over tax law and steel imports.

The EU has four times won a ruling at the WTO banning the US from giving tax subsidies to the foreign earnings of US multinationals, and has won the right to impose $4bn worth of sanctions on US goods if the law is not changed.

Meanwhile, the US is threatening to slap high tariff duties on imports of steel from Europe and other countries, claiming they are being "dumped" at artificially low prices in order to bankrupt US manufacturers.

US legislators told Mr Lamy that there was little chance of changing the tax law, and they wanted the issue injected into the trade talks.

This seems unlikely although many developing countries would dearly like to knock back the US "anti-dumping" laws.

But it does threaten to sour the atmosphere in what could prove to be the most difficult trade round yet.