The WTO chief urged members yesterday to resist protectionist pressure in the wake of the economic crisis, but said hopes of an early deal to free up international commerce are uncertain.
“In February this year, the global economic downturn was peaking,” WTO Director General Pascal Lamy told a forum.
“Less than a year on, progress has been made, but we are not yet out of the woods,” he said.
Lamy, in a speech and comments at a press conference, said the volume of world trade this year would shrink by slightly more than 10 percent, “which is unprecedented in modern times.”
In this environment, he said, “pressure for protectionist actions … with their illusory gains for the domestic economy, will not necessarily diminish any time soon.”
Lamy said success in completing the Doha round of trade talks next year as scheduled was vital to signal business and consumer confidence, and would strengthen the hand of governments as they confront protectionist pressures.
“This will not occur unless they are all ready for heavy political lifting at home,” he said, adding there would be a “crunch time meeting” in the first quarter to check if the goal was attainable.
Prospects for meeting the deadline remain uncertain, he said.
“The jury is still out until the end of the first quarter of next year,” he said.
A ministerial meeting in Geneva last week made little progress towards ending the impasse.
The Doha round began in 2001, with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations by striking an accord that will cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods. Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed.
Discussions have been dogged by disagreements on issues including how much the US and the EU should reduce aid to their farmers and the extent to which developing countries such as India, China and South Africa should cut tariffs.
Lamy said developing states suffer especially from protectionism.
“Our poor members have been hit short-term by the shrinking trade,” he said.
“They depend much more than others on trade to grow their economy and to reduce poverty, which is why fighting protectionism is even more important for them as it is for richer countries,” Lamy said.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, said discussions on new multilateral fiscal regulations to avoid a repeat crisis should proceed in a fair manner.
“There cannot be a stable global economic governance without having both trade and finance regulated at the multilateral level,” he told a separate press conference on the forum’s sidelines.
Supachai said it would be necessary to stress equal treatment for member countries.
“So there should not be a double standard in a way that rules are applied — one set of rules for industrialized countries or one set of rules for developing countries,” he said. “They would all be subjected to the same rules — no double standard.”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS