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CIAO DATE: 03/02
Volume 7, Number 1, January 2002
Preface
A new global round of trade negotiations, dubbed the "Doha Development Agenda" by trade ministers representing the member countries of the World Trade Organization, has the potential to make life better for people in more than 140 participating WTO nations, especially developing countries.
The negotiations, which start in January 2002 and are scheduled to end in 2005, promise to open markets on a broad range of goods and services of crucial interest to developing countries, especially agriculture. Wealthier countries also have pledged to assist developing countries build capacity to participate in trade negotiations and implement commitments they make in these agreements.
Participation by new WTO entrants China and Taiwan is certain to change the dynamics of the negotiations. Opening its markets further to trade should bolster China's massive structural economic reforms.
Meanwhile, members from both major political parties of the U.S. Congress have promised to monitor every step in the WTO negotiations.
This electronic journal brings together the views of key U.S. negotiators, as well as a leading member of the U.S. Senate and an academic scholar, to discuss the major issues that will be negotiated over the next few years.
Under Secretary of State Alan Larson explores the crucial role played by developing countries in launching the new round, particularly in agriculture and intellectual property. Industrial market access issues and the benefits of lower tariffs for developing countries are the subjects of a contribution by Under Secretary of Commerce Grant Aldonas. Under Secretary of Agriculture J.B. Penn outlines U.S. agricultural negotiating objectives in three areas — market access, export competition, and domestic supports. James Zumwalt, economic minister counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, describes why China's accession to the WTO is good for all parties.
The journal also includes an article by Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for oversight of the trade negotiations, on the importance of congressional involvement in the new trade round particularly concerning the environment and U.S. antidumping law.
And Jeffrey Schott, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, explains why the structure of the current negotiations can be a "win-win" proposition for both industrial and developing countries.