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“Today I broaden the challenge by making this pledge: the United States is ready to eliminate tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to free flow of goods and services as other nations do the same… It's the key to overcoming poverty in the world's poorest nations. It's essential we promote prosperity and opportunity for all nations. By expanding trade we spread hope and opportunity to the corners of the world and we strike a blow against the terrorists who feed on anger and resentment.”
With these words at the United Nations in September, President George W. Bush outlined the U.S. proposal for the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong next month. Trade liberalization, combined with pro-market, developmental domestic reforms, enhances the economic growth potential of developing countries. The Doha Development Agenda is about creating market access opportunities and reform in agriculture, expanding opportunities for manufactured goods and services, and updating the trading rules to meet the needs of a 21st century economy.
The U.S. has tabled an ambitious proposal to significantly liberalize agricultural trade. The European Union's latest proposal unfortunately falls short in liberalizing trade and presents a major stumbling block to a successful agreement The EU's position is unacceptable to the U.S. and to most other countries as well. An agreement on agriculture based on the European Union proposal would weaken other areas under negotiation, for example services and manufacturing, and the Doha Round would not approach its potential for promoting development, opportunity and global economic growth.
Poland has and continues to benefit significantly from liberalization of trade, as seen most dramatically with its entry to the EU and access to the common market. Further global trade liberalization will have a positive, long-term impact on Poland's economy.
The world must not miss this opportunity to stimulate the global economy and provide millions of impoverished people hope for a better future. Several recent studies estimate that more open trade would raise the income of developing countries by $200 billion annually. The United Nations estimates that trade liberalization could decrease the number of people living on $1 a day or less by 61 million, and the number of people living on $2 per day by 144 million by the year 2015.
The United States is deeply committed to helping the world's poor. The U.S. is the world's largest single-country donor of official development assistance, of emergency humanitarian relief, and of private charitable funding, and the World Bank has judged the United States to be the world’s most open major economy to imports from developing countries.
This round is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It will determine whether developing countries will gain the opportunity to share in the benefits of expanded global trade, the primary engine for more robust economic development in developing countries. As President Bush has said, “Trade is the engine for a sustained expansion of prosperity around the world. Through a successful Doha Round, we can realize that opportunity.”
And all eyes are on agriculture.
Contact: Ed Porter, Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Embassy, (22) 504-2336
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