Mandelson plans bilateral trade deals despite WTO setback
Mandelson plans bilateral trade deals despite WTO setback
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Tuesday October 10, 2006
The Guardian
The European Union will use bilateral trade deals to "road test" measures deemed too sensitive to be included in the stalled global WTO liberalisation negotiations, Peter Mandelson said last night.
Speaking at the London School of Economics, Europe’s trade commissioner said Brussels was seeking ambitious deals with partners such as India and Russia that would include the highly contentious areas of investment, competition policy and government procurement.
The EU’s attempts to have these new issues included in the Doha round of WTO talks were abandoned in 2003 after opposition from developing countries, but with the global talks now suspended Mr Mandelson said Europe wanted them to be put back on the table in bilateral deals.
"We’ve made it clear to our partners that the EU is only interested in deep free trade agreements across the full range of sectors - like the agreement we signed with Chile in 2002. Not just goods, but services, non-tariff barriers and rules on issues such as investment, competition and public procurement as well."
The three issues mentioned by Mr Mandelson - together with trade and customs rules - were first raised at WTO talks in Singapore a decade ago, and Europe wanted them included in the Doha round to help offset EU concessions on agriculture. Bilateral deals, he said last night, allowed willing partners to move faster than in the WTO negotiations, where the effective veto of 149 members meant liberalisation could only happen in small steps.
"Our bilateral agreements road-test liberalisation that can ultimately be extended to the global system", he said.
He added that the EU saw bilateral or regional trade agreements as complementary to a global deal rather than a fall-back now that the talks in Geneva are deadlocked. "Doha has not stalled because of bilateral trade agreements, and bilateral trade agreements need not be fatal to its success. The bilateral agreements I proposed last week have been in preparation for over a year - long before our current Doha problems."
