WTO boss urges US not to backpedal on trade

 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- The World Trade Organisation boss on Wednesday warned that global trade talks could remain stalled if President Barack Obama's administration backpedals on liberalization amid the economic crisis....

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  • The World Trade Organisation boss on Wednesday warned that global trade talks could remain stalled if President Barack Obama's administration backpedals on liberalization amid the economic crisis.

  • Australia will resume stalled talks with China within days as it pursues an ambitious free-trade push following its strong recovery from the global downturn, Trade Minister Simon Crean said.He said discussions with China would open in Canberra next week, while Australia was also in talks with Japan and South Korea and was studying a deal with India.He said Canberra and Beijing were strongly committed to free-trade negotiations which stumbled on technical issues before diplomatic ties suffered a series of setbacks last year.

  • India on Thursday urged the United States to take the lead in resuming global free trade talks after the EU trade chief lashed out at "protectionism" by President Barack Obama's administration.

  • AFP - The conclusion of the stalled Do

  • WTO chief Pascal Lamy was in Washington Wednesday for talks with US officials and lawmakers amid an uphill effort to wrap up the long-running Doha Round of global trade talks by this year.Lamy met with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a Treasury spokesman told AFP, but declined to provide details about their talks.And, according to the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, Lamy is scheduled to hold separate talks with President Barack Obama's top trade official Ron Kirk and US lawmakers.

  • President Barack Obama made no commitments to move forward on stalled free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea during private talks with lawmakers this week, a top ally said Thursday."In terms of specific trade agreements, there was no discussion," the number two Democratic leader in the Senate, Dick Durbin, told AFP.Obama met behind closed doors with top Democrats and Republicans from the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday to discuss efforts to foster job-creation with US unemployment at a quarter-century high.

  • Chinese limits on the sale of books, films and music from the U.S. violate global commerce rules, the World Trade Organization ruled, handing President Barack Obama’s administration its first trade victory against China.

  • EU trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, on Thursday accused US President Barack Obama's administration of having a "protectionist" agenda, blaming Washington for holding up a global free-trade deal."One of the problems is that we don't know exactly what the United States wants. They don't want to go forward for now, that much is clear," he said of the decade-old Doha round in World Trade Organization negotiations, in an interview with Belgian business daily De Tijd.

 
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