Trade deadlock warning issued

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 8

Trade deadlock warning issued

Political reporter

If the world trade reform negotiations stay in deadlock, nations will look for their own solutions, the Minister of External Relations and Trade, Mr Moore, has warned.

In his speech in Montreal to a meeting of more than 90 Trade Ministers, Mr Moore said if there was no progress on ending subsidies and protection, the conclusion would be that they had been going round in circles.

The meeting marks two years since beginning the review of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. «

This is the half-way

point in the review, but Mr Moore said without more progress, trade action would move elsewhere.

He said the United States-Canada free trade deal was the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world. Its further development would be influenced by whether the G.A.T.T. review was considered likely to produce results.

New Zealand is a member of the 13-nation Cairns group promoting trade reform. Mr Moore said the group wanted a genuine freeze on trade-distorting policies and a collective decision to cut support.