World trade talks in Seattle fail, to continue in Geneva

International talks aimed at lowering trade barriers around the world failed as member states of the World Trade Organisation could not reach agreement on setting an agenda despite four days of negotiations.

International talks aimed at lowering trade barriers around the world failed as member states of the World Trade Organisation could not reach agreement on setting an agenda despite four days of negotiations.

The unresolved issues of the conference in the U.S. city of Seattle will now be taken back to WTO headquarters in Geneva, where Director-General Mike Moore will review the situation.

“I am, of course, very disappointed, that delegates to the Seattle ministerial conference were unable to reach a consensus to launch a new round of trade talks,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley. “In the end, there were just too many differences on too many issues.”
From the start, the meeting of the 135-member body had been beset by divisions on many issues, from cutting farm subsidies to imposing minimum labour standards on developing countries to reviewing trade retaliation laws.

A number of ministers, including Swiss Economics Minister Pascal Couchepin, had warned in the run-up to the conference that the Seattle talks might end in failure.

But that failure, according to some observers, could mean that delegates will now fall back to positions they always had – simply agreeing to start talks on agriculture and services, the two big areas where very little deregulation was agreed in the last few years of trade talks.

While supporters of many non-governmental organisations critical of the WTO’s trade policies danced in the street with joy, the blame game began.

Some developing nations, who make up two-thirds of the WTO, blamed the U.S. for the fiasco. Washington officials in turn blamed the enormity of the task facing delegates and pointed at the entrenched positions.

Couchepin in turn criticised the fact that, from the start, there had been no clearly defined strategy for the trade negotiations, and he appeared to suggest that much of that failure must be blamed on the U.S.

“There was no real fire burning,” said David Syz of the Swiss delegation, describing what he considered a lack of commitment by many delegates. He suggested that, by the time the street protests were brought under control by Seattle police, conference members simply had lost focus.

From staff and wire reports.