Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 09:42:45 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: Trade News 4-15-96
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TRADE NEWS
Produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade 
Policy
April 15, 1996
Volume 5, Number 18
_________________________________________
WTO MAY HOLD TRADE SUMMIT
BRITTAN URGES NEW ROUND
REQUEST FOR BANANA PANEL
INDIA WORKS FOR TRIPS CHANGE
MEETING ON MARITIME SERVICES
UN SUGGESTS GUIDELINES FOR ENVIRO PACTS
_________________________________________
WTO NEWS SUMMARY
_________________________________________

WTO MAY HOLD TRADE SUMMIT

Renato Ruggiero, director-general of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO), is considering a WTO sponsored 
summit of world leaders to inject fresh political 
momentum into multilateral trade liberalization. The 
meeting would be held late in 1997 or early in 1998. It 
would bring together heads of state and government from 
nearly 120 WTO member countries and would be the largest 
economic summit in history. The summit would be called 
to mark the 50th anniversary of the Havana Charter, the 
international agreement which laid the foundation of the 
multilateral world trading system and led to the 
creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
(GATT), the WTO's predecessor. However, Ruggiero has 
said that the conference should be more than a 
ceremonial event, and that a substantive agenda should 
be prepared for discussion and endorsement by the 
leaders.

Ruggiero has raised the idea of the summit informally in 
recent meetings with ministers and senior officials of a 
number of the world's leading trading powers. If it 
attracts enough support, he is expected to formulate a 
precise proposal later this year. London is among the 
possible venues for the conference, which has been 
endorsed in principle by the British government. But 
Washington is also being considered, on the grounds that 
the U.S. president would be more likely to attend.

Guy de Jonquieres, "WTO May Propose Giant Trade Summit," 
FINANCIAL TIMES, April 4, 1996.

BRITTAN URGES NEW ROUND

Sir Leon Brittan, the European Union's (EU) trade 
commissioner, has called on World Trade Organization 
(WTO) members to commit themselves this year to 
preparing for the launch of new global trade 
negotiations by the end of the century. In a speech 
delivered in Geneva, Brittan said the preparations 
should focus on cutting industrial tariffs further, 
liberalizing government procurement, and simplifying 
rules of origin used by regional trade groups to give 
preferential treatment to their members. Brittan's plea 
is the furthest any senior policy-maker from a leading 
trading power has gone to place a proposal for a 
comprehensive trade round on the WTO's agenda. 

While Brittan acknowledged that trade ministers from the 
WTO's 120 members will not be ready to decide on a new 
round when they meet in Singapore in December 1996, he 
said that they should approve the start of preparatory 
work and make it the WTO's "central mission."

Some WTO members think the Singapore meeting should be 
little more than a stock-taking exercise. Many are 
reluctant to contemplate new negotiations only two years 
after signing the Uruguay Round world trade agreement. 
But Brittan maintains that a decision to launch new 
negotiations cannot be delayed beyond the end of the 
century.

Guy de Jonquieres, "Brittan Looks Ahead to Fresh Trade 
Round," FINANCIAL TIMES, April 1, 1996.

REQUEST FOR BANANA PANEL

The United States and four Latin American banana 
producing nations have filed a request with the World 
Trade Organization (WTO) to establish a dispute 
settlement panel to examine a joint complaint that the 
European Union's (EU) banana import regime is 
discriminatory and contrary to global trade rules. 
The move came after consultations required by the WTO 
failed to resolve the issue. The request is set to come 
up at the next normal session of the WTO's Dispute 
Settlement Body (DSB) on April 24, 1996. The four Latin 
nations which co-signed the request are Guatemala, 
Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico.

The thrust of the complaint is that the EU's banana 
import regime, introduced on July 1, 1993, is contrary 
to global trade rules since Brussels grants preferential 
access to producers from African, Caribbean and Pacific 
(ACP) nations, at the expense of third country suppliers 
from the so-called "dollar" banana areas. The EU, which 
accounts for around 40% of the global banana market, 
limits tariff rate quota imports from the "dollar" 
region to 2.35 million tons, but nearly 1 million tons 
from the ACP areas enter without duties. 

The EU is divided over the issue with Germany in favor 
of an overhaul of the regime, and France, which has 
close relations with ACP nations, wanting tighter 
restrictions. Two earlier General Agreement on Tariffs 
and Trade (GATT) panels ruled against the EU import 
regime.

John Zarocostas, "U.S., Four Banana-Growing Nations Ask 
WTO to Set Up a Dispute Panel," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, 
April 12, 1996.

INDIA WORKS FOR TRIPS CHANGE

Indian officials have suggested to the World Trade 
Organization's (WTO) Committee on Trade and the 
Environment (CTE) that it become involved in amending 
the "trade related intellectual property rights" (TRIPS) 
section of the Uruguay Round agreement, with a goal of 
easing technology transfers to countries where 
environmental concerns sometimes run contrary to free 
trade rules. 

Since 1994 India has been seeking to have the TRIPS 
agreement amended in order to allow its farmers freer 
use of seeds developed by multinational chemical 
companies in plant culture without violating copyright 
restrictions codified in TRIPS. WTO sources said India 
is seeking to bring the matter up in several of the 
committees of the trade body, hoping to have some 
agreement reached by the time the WTO holds is first 
ministerial meeting in Singapore in December 1996.

"India Suggests WTO Help Amend TRIPS Section of Uruguay 
Round Pact," INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER, April 
3, 1996.

MEETING ON MARITIME SERVICES

The chairman of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) 
negotiating group on maritime services has called for a 
high-level meeting of senior officials in May 1996 as a 
way to jump-start the maritime negotiations, which are 
scheduled for completion on June 30. One of the key 
issues to be discussed at the meeting will be U.S. 
participation in the talks. "The big question is where 
the U.S. will be," said chairman Donald Kenyon. A U.S. 
official said that the United States will "definitely 
take an MFN exemption" if U.S. negotiators decide that 
offers from other countries are inadequate. Kenyon said 
that calling such a meeting is "not standard procedure" 
and was prompted by the U.S. decision not to table a 
negotiating offer until other countries improve their 
offers. While U.S. trade officials have indicated they 
are encouraged by the growing quantity of offers, they 
have stated that most of these offers simply describe 
the current maritime services regimes in those countries 
and offer no new trade liberalization in that area.

"Kenyon Calls for Senior Officials Meeting in May on 
Maritime Services," INSIDE U.S. TRADE, April 5, 1996.

_________________________________________
WORLD TRADE ROUND-UP
_________________________________________

UN SUGGESTS GUIDELINES FOR ENVIRO PACTS

United Nations officials have suggested that countries 
develop non-binding guidelines on the use of trade 
restrictions in future environmental treaties. These 
guidelines, the officials said, would assist negotiators 
as they weigh possible use of trade measures in the 
environmental agreements they are crafting. These trade 
measures, in turn, could be used to fulfill 
environmental objectives of an accord; ensure 
effectiveness of an environmental pact through trade 
measures against countries that are not a party to the 
agreement; persuade nations to accede to a treaty by 
making the costs of not joining higher than joining; and 
prevent non-parties from reaping benefits without 
bearing any of the costs -- so called "free riding."

"U.N. Suggests Guidelines for Measures in Environmental 
Pacts," DAILY ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT, April 9, 1996.

_________________________________________
RESOURCES
_________________________________________

"GATT and India: The Politics of Agriculture," by 
Devinder Sharma. This book, published in 1994, examines 
the impact of the Uruguay Round and WTO on Third World 
farmers with an emphasis on India. Chapters include, 
"The Dunkel Proposals," "Genes and Germplasm," 
"Multinationals and Agriculture," and "Indian 
Agriculture: Toward Recolonization." To order, contact 
IATP ($19 plus shipping).

"Asia's Rising Economic Tide: Unique Opportunities for 
the U.S.," by Erland Heginbotham. East Asia, the world's 
largest, fastest growing economic region, is undergoing 
transformations that are creating unique economic 
opportunities for U.S. business. Most important is an 
accumulation of $3-$5 trillion in infrastructure needs -
- technology and hardware -- much of which must be 
imported before Asia can advance its industrialization. 
This study estimates that the United States could win as 
much as $25 billion annually in increased exports if it 
pursues these opportunities effectively. To order, 
contact the National Planning Association, 1424 16th 
Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036; tel: 202-265-7685; 
fax: 202-797-5516. ($20)
__________________________________________
Trade News is produced by the Institute for Agriculture 
and Trade Policy, Mark Ritchie, President. Editor: Orin 
Kirshner. E-mail versions of Trade News are available 
free of charge for Econet/IATP Net subscribers.  For 
more information about fax or mail subscriptions, 
contact: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 
1313 Fifth Street S.E., Suite 303, Minneapolis, MN, 
55414  Phone 612-379-5980.  To learn more about IATP's 
contract research services, please contact Dale Wiehoff 
at dwiehoff@igc.apc.org