The unusually outspoken comments were a sign of Washington's
frustration at the reluctance of China, Brazil and India — among the most
dynamic players in the world economy — to create more market opportunities to
reach a deal in the talks.
Ambassador Michael Punke said China was stalling on talks on
the global trade round sought by the United States, but there were signs that
Brazil and India were willing to negotiate.
"When it comes to China however we're getting no
engagement whatsoever, not even in terms of process," he told Reuters.
"We find it very hard to see how it is we're going to be able to move
forward with Doha negotiations if China is not even in a position right now to
consult with its domestic industry."
Punke's comments added to pressure put on China on Wednesday
by his boss, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Commerce Secretary Gary
Locke.
With G20 leaders expected to call in Toronto this weekend
yet again for a renewed push to conclude the Doha Round, his remarks highlight
the difficulties in reaching an agreement.
Punke dismissed arguments by the emerging giants that they
should not be asked to do more in the Doha talks, launched in late 2001,
because the liberalization round was intended mainly to help developing
countries trade more.
It was wrong to consider dynamos such as China, Brazil and
India, despite their millions of poor people, in the same light as the poorest
countries, he said. They would be among the main beneficiaries of the global
trading system after a Doha deal.
"Where are the barriers to developing country trade?
The most significant ones are in the emerging developing countries," he
said, adding that 70 percent of tariffs collected by the emerging economies
were paid by developing countries.
Punke also rejected warnings from other WTO members that US
demands could cause the current carefully balanced proposals to unravel.
"We don't have a deal right now," Punke said, saying
that current proposals, based on the state of negotiations in July 2008 when an
attempt by ministers to reach a deal collapsed, represented valuable work but
were not the end of the story.
Punke said that in the last few months WTO members had held
real talks in a number of groups, such as environmental goods, trade in
services led by Australia, and opening up individual industrial sectors led by
Japan.
"We've had a useful and constructive process that we've
begun with India and Brazil. There's a process there that gives me some hope
that over time we can reach a good conclusion," he said of the United
States' bilateral negotiations.
The United States appreciated that it would have to pay for
any further concessions from its partners.
"What we've said is that we believe that negotiations
involve a process of give and take and that we will evaluate all requests for
market access from the US in the context of the overall package that we're able
to achieve," he said.
The United States is seeking more access in particular for
chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, forestry products, and
construction and agricultural equipment, making different requests to different
countries, Punke said.
Comments by officials from the emerging powers that
Washington was demanding concessions on thousands of tariff lines were
misleading, he said. It had simply laid out a range of areas where it was
interested in negotiating and asked its partners to indicate where it was worth
holding talks, he said.
The US would accept any approach that led to negotiations.
Given the time taken to negotiate and implement trade deals
the United States wants to ensure the rules agreed by the emerging powers are
realistic as it could be another 25 years before the next set is in place.
The current proposals would mean that India does not cut 97
percent of its industrial tariffs, Brazil could retain tariffs of over 15
percent on more than 1,000 goods and China could theoretically protect its
entire car industry or most of its chemical sector from opening, Punke said.
