GENEVA: Tempers flared yesterday as the United States, China and India exchanged fire, blaming each other for obstacles holding up a global trade liberalization deal.
On day eight of hard bargaining, the United States accused India of failing to get behind a fragile agreement reached among six of seven major trading economies on Friday.
Washington also maintained that China was reneging on its earlier promises. “That’s a real risk because those countries are advocating selectively reopening the package,” said US Trade Representative Susan Schwab after a five-hour meeting with representatives from India, China, Australia, Brazil, European Union and Japan.
“Therefore there is a real threat to a delicate balance we’ve achieved on Friday night and I’m concerned it will jeopardize the outcome of this round,” she added.
While Schwab did not cite names, the United States in a meeting with all 153 member states had earlier accused India and China of threatening to shatter a deal reached over the week end by key parties in Geneva.
“All their invocations of development during the past years ring hollow when these major players threaten the development benefits already on the table that are absolutely vital to the vast majority of the membership,” said David Shark, the US deputy head at the Geneva mission to the World Trade Organization. The accusations met with a sharp retort from the Chinese, diplomats attending the meeting said. Chinese Ambassador Sun Zhenyu said then that China had “tried very hard” to contribute to a successful round. “It is a little bit surprised that at this time the US started this finger pointing,” he said.
He also turned the tables on the United States, arguing that while Washington had offered to cut the ceiling of its agricultural subsidies to $14.5 billion, the actual annual spending was only $7 billion-$8 billion a year.