US INDICATES POSSIBLE MAJOR ACTION ON FREE TRADE: Neat! Via KickAAS.

The US is urging members of the World Trade Organisation to restart the stalled Doha round negotiations, saying it is prepared to address seriously the issues–particularly agriculture–that led to last year’s breakdown at a ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico.

Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, told the Financial Times he would send a letter today to trade ministers of all 148 WTO countries laying out a series of ideas for trying to reach agreement on a negotiating framework by the middle of this year. That would lead up to a new ministerial meeting in Hong Kong by the year’s end.

Mr Zoellick said he now believed no final agreement would be possible without the complete elimination of agricultural export subsidies by a certain date, a position anathema to the European Union. [Eve’s emphasis] …

The letter signals a shift in tactics, with the US moving away from its joint position with the EU on some key agricultural issues that have stalled the negotiations and reaching out to developing countries. …

In another conciliatory gesture, Mr Zoellick said he wanted the chairmanship of the WTO’s general council to go again to a developing country official when the current chair, from Uruguay, steps down at the end of this month. He mentioned as possibilities Brazil, Chile, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.

more