G.A.T.T. talks centre on Brussels-U.S. feud

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 9

G.A.T.T. talks centre on Brussels-U.S. feud

NZPA Geneva International trade talks which could be crucial for the chances of world economic recovery opened today, with the European Economic Community under fire for refusing to countenance new liberalisation moves.

Representatives of 88 nations are taking part in the first Ministerial-|evel meeting in nine years of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

With recession prompting many governments to resort to protectionist measures to save jobs, preparations for the conference have been marked by mutual accusations of unfair trading practices and deep disagreement over how liberal future world trade should be. '

The American special trade representative, Bill Brock, said yesterday that the political will to maintain an open American market was on the verge of collapse. A flood of protectionist legislation could be unleashed in the United States if the Geneva meeting, failed to make trade fairer in several areas, including food exports, he said. The United States has pressed for eased agricultural trade, a strong stand against protectionist measures, and stricter application of G.A.T.T. rules.

But European Economic Community delegates have dug in their heels in opposition.

The Community, which accounts for 40 per cent of world trade, is anxious to prevent G.A.T.T. rules being applied to its farm subsidies, which have been criticised by other nations as encouraging unfair exports to countries outside Europe. France in particular also

resists any potential restraint on the regulations it has recently introduced to curb what it considers to be damaging and unfair imports. The French Trade Minister, Mr Michel Jobert, yesterday issued a statement opposing any move to extend G.A.T.T.’s scope, make its rules more binding, or start a new phase of trade liberalisation.

Mr Jobert said that France believed the problems of world trade had been caused by the recession, a lack of co-ordination between national policies, and high interest rates. He blamed what he called unbearable debt problems of developing countries, a slump in world prices for raw materials, lower development aid,, and international monetary disorder. Diplomats at a Community meeting held on Monday said that Mr Jobert had wanted the Community to keep to negotiatig tactics agreed earlier this month in which it

blamed American economic policies for a slump in world trade, and unfair trading practices by Japan and some developing countries. Representatives from the United States, Australia, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations have criticised Common Market attempts to weaken the declaration.

In speeches and private meetings, they had strongly opposed protectionist measures, and urged liberalisation of food trade and tigher guidelines for the way G.A.T.T. arbitrates in trade disputes, diplomats said.

The A.S.E.A.N. countries have proposed a round of negotiations to open up the food trade and a G.A.T.T. study focusing on limits such as those it said the E.E.C. used to curb imports of sugar and palm oil from A.S.E.A.N. states.

The Community opposes a study since it could focus on the Common Agricultural Policy, the controversial farm subsidy system which

critics say produces surpluses which Brussels then dumps on world markets through export subsidies. In the latest in a, series of American statements, a delegation from the United States Congress led by a North Carolina senator, Jesse Helms, threatened to retaliate if European export subsidies were not tackled at the conference.

, "An end must be brought to this business of subsidised exports," he told journalists. Asked which steps Congress might take, Mr Helms said that it could boost indirect American export aids, dump a $2.9 billion dairy goods surplus on the world market, revoke most-fav-oured nation status from certain States, or slap quotas on offending countries’ exports to the United States.

Referring to protectionist trends in the Congress, Mr Brock said: “Recession, unemployment, a massive and growing trade deficit, and a sense of increasing barriers elsewhere has brought the political coalition necessary to preserve an open U.S. market to the verge of collapse.” Third World delegtes, watching from the sidelines as attention focused on the feud between Washington and Brussels, said that any attempt to renegotiate the text already agreed upon could split the conference beyond repair. Most developing countries support a strong stand against protectionist measures and dismantling of food import barriers, but have blocked American proposals to extend G.A.T.T.’s tree trade rules to cover services such as banking and insurance.