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The EU (European Union) has offered to cut its farm tariffs by 60% to kick-start trade talks in Geneva. EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson urged Brazil, India and China to reciprocate by slashing their industrial tariffs. The EU previously offered to cut farm tariffs by 54%.
The US trade chief also vowed to help make the talks succeed if emerging nations made a contribution. But developing countries warned that rich nations were expecting too much from their poorer counterparts.
Indonesia's trade minister, Mari Pangestu, said rich nations' hopes for an increased share of global trade should take a back seat to the development goals of the current trade round.
Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim said emerging economies, such as China, India and Brazil, were already offering substantial concessions and that developed countries should not expect too much.
Ministers from 35 nations are trying to reach a deal in talks at the Geneva-based World Trade Organization in the framework of the Doha round.
The Doha round of trade talks began in 2001. Discussions have so far foundered over the extent of cuts to farm subsidies and how far trade in services such as banking should be liberalized
Mercopress
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Why don't they detail the "substantial concessions" that Brazil and others are offering??
I'm sorry, but Brazil and others are always crying about subsidies when they themselves subsidize their own farmers with low interest loans and tax breaks. How does one expect one to compete that pays their employers "livable" wages when the other pays theirs a wage of miseria?
Brazil always wants everything in their favor. They have no interest in a "level playing field" or things being "fair".
Yesterday while at the mall here in Aracaju I was looking at the prices for numerous items, even in the fast-food restaurants, and with the exception of New York, LA, and other U.S. megalopolis', brazil is more expensive than the U.S. and it's all because of the exorbinant taxes that are levied against EVERYTHING!