"We have missed the chance to seal the first global pact of a reshaped world order." -- European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said.
Hallelujah!!!!!
"Global trade talks falter over farmers' safety net" by Bloomberg News | July 30, 2008
GENEVA - Talks aimed at producing a global trade agreement collapsed in their ninth day because of a disagreement between the United States on one hand and China and India on the other over agriculture tariffs.
"Today is a serious setback," World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy said.
The Geneva meeting may have been the last chance to strike a deal on cutting tariffs and subsidies in agriculture and manufactured goods before the US presidential election in November. Lamy said before trade ministers began negotiations on July 21 that there was no "Plan B."
There is ALWAYS a "Plan B," readers!!!!
Ministers from the United States, India, and Brazil refrained from blaming one another. Still, the United States accused India and China of refusing to accept key elements of a compromise put forth by Lamy four days ago and refined by ministers over the weekend.
Yeah, they refused to point fingers -- except for the asshole AmeriKans!!!!
WTO talks have moved in fits and starts since November 2001 as industrialized and emerging markets clashed over how to open up trade. Lamy has estimated that a deal would add as much as $100 billion to the global economy at a time when slowing growth and soaring food and fuel prices are undercutting living standards around the world.
"This is a setback for the international trading system, greater than just the lost trading opportunities," European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said. "We have missed the chance to seal the first global pact of a reshaped world order."
GOOD!!!!
Progress in negotiations ground to a halt Monday as the United States accused China and India of refusing to open their fast-growing markets to foreign competition and snubbing a compromise on agriculture and industrial goods."
Hooray for China and India for standing up to the New World Order!
You know whom is conspicuously absent from the conversation, readers?
