GENEVA: A clash between developing countries over protectionist measures to save farmers from surging imports threatened Sunday to scupper a bid for a new global trade pact, delegates said.
Among the issues being thrashed out by trade ministers in Geneva are special safeguard mechanisms (SSM) that increase tariffs on agricultural products to protect domestic markets if imports surge above a certain level.
Latin American exporters such as Paraguay and Uruguay are at odds with fellow developing nation India which wants the measures to kick in at a lower level to protect its millions of subsistence farmers.
There are still many problems to resolve, but the SSM is one of the main ones, World Trade Organization spokesman Keith Rockwell told AFP.
The issue is one of many sticking points in tortuous negotiations among ministers who are seeking to map out a new deal under the so-called Doha Round of talks by agreeing on cuts in subsidies and import tariffs.
The Doha Round was launched in the Qatari capital seven years ago but has been deadlocked because of disputes between the rich developed world and poorer developing nations, mostly over trade in industrial and farmed products.
Under proposals tabled by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, developing countries would benefit from an SSM to increase tariffs by up to 15 percent over present levels if imports surge over 40 percent.
But an Indian diplomat told AFP on Saturday that this threshold was too high. We cannot have 40 percent, it is too high. By the time it reaches 40 percent, our people would have died, he warned.
India is backed by other key players such as China and Indonesia, while the supporters of Lamy s SSM proposal include the United States and Australia.
Paraguay s foreign minister told the WTO s opening session on Monday that SSMs could turn into an insurmountable obstacle for the Doha Round.
They could cause countries such as Paraguay to lose everything they might have gained in terms of access to markets in developing countries where they send much of their produce, he said.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson wrote in his daily blog on Sunday that there are any number of potential potholes in the road, including India and other countries with large populations depending on subsistence agriculture who are holding out for an even stronger safeguard clause against farm imports.
He added: I have a feeling that this issue will go to the wire. -AFP
