WTO credibility at stake in Hong Kong meeting: US

Troubled trade talks promise little benefit to the world economy unless more progress is made on cutting tariffs next month in Hong Kong, US trade representative Rob Portman said on Wednesday.
"We need to make enough progress in Hong Kong to be able to demonstrate to the global community, including the US business interest, that this round really will make a difference in terms of our economy," Portman said in an interview on CNBC. "I think we can do that." But Portman conceded that sharp differences over how far to cut agricultural tariffs meant "the progress in Hong Kong won't be as great as we hoped."
The 148 member states of the World Trade Organisation are to meet December 13-18 in Hong Kong in hopes they will make enough progress to keep alive chances of an agreement by the end of 2006. WTO members launched the current round, the Doha Development Agenda, in November 2001.
While the United States has offered to sharply cut its trade-distorting farm subsidies, it can only follow through on that if other countries agree to cut their tariffs, he said.
"We're still waiting for the reciprocal contribution on market access. That's primarily the European Union and a few other countries that are not interested in opening up their markets enough on the tariff side," Portman said.
The EU says it has substantially reformed its agricultural policy in recent years and already put forward its best offer in the world trade talks. It's now up to others like Brazil and India to make serious offers to open their goods and services markets to more foreign trade, Brussels says.
Portman said he would be meet again with top trade officials from the EU, Brazil, India, Japan and other countries later this week. That is expected to take place in Geneva on Friday and Saturday.
The troubled round is expected also to be on the agenda for a London meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries on Friday and Saturday.
The G7 includes France, which is the EU member most resistant to farm trade reforms demanded by others in the world trade talks, as well as Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States.
Washington hopes the meetings in Geneva and London will give new momentum to the negotiations heading into the Hong Kong ministerial meeting in December.