EU trade commissioner ruled out revival of trade talks before U.S. midterm elections

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Tuesday the stalled Doha round of world free-trade talks are unlikely to be revived before mid-term U.S. Congressional elections in November.

"We have to wait until the midterm elections in the United States are over in November before we can entertain the possibility of a serious resumption of negotiations," Mandelson told the European Parliament.

The current impasse is due to the lack of "political will from certain WTO members," and has no relation to any institutional deadlock, Mandelson said, blaming the United States for the collapse of the negotiations.

The Doha Round talks under the World Trade Organization (WTO) ground to a halt last month after a bitter dispute between Europe and the United States over farm tariffs and subsidies.

The Europe Union repeatedly demands Washington cut its farm subsidies, saying that it would make a similar cut in turn.

The current Doha round of trade talks, which opened in the Qatari capital in 2001, was designed to remove agricultural and industrial trade barriers.

Mandelson even predicted that the United States is likely to increase its subsidies to its farmers by the end of the Doha implementation period.

If the United States refused to change the stand, countries like Brazil and India would not expand their market admittance for industrial products and service, he said.

The EU trade chief has consistently accused Washington of not sacrificing enough of its support for its farmers in the talks.

At the invitation of Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Mandelson will travel to Rio de Janeiro next weekend to meet his U.S. counterpart Susan Schwab and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy to discuss how to revive the talks.

Source: Xinhua