December 4 2:57 AM ET
Acrimony As Global Trade Talks Fail
By Adam Entous
SEATTLE (Reuters) - World trade ministers failed on Friday to launch a new round of global trade liberalization talks in an embarrassment for host President Clinton and a setback for the cause of free trade.
U.S. officials declared an end to the World Trade Organization meeting as time ran out for solving deep differences between the 135-member nations, fueling a spiral of recrimination.
``While very substantial progress was made in many areas, issues that remained were highly complicated and we believe could not be overcome rapidly,'' U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said at a brief closing ceremony.
``It would be best to take a time out,'' said a weary Barshefsky, who was chairing the ministerial meeting.
Accompanied by massive protests, the four-day meeting of the trade watchdog was beset from the start by divisions on many issues, from cutting farm subsidies to imposing minimum labor standards on developing countries to reviewing trade retaliation laws.
Barshefsky said the discussions would move to the WTO headquarters in Geneva. This ``time out'' would allow WTO Director-General Mike Moore to consult with the members to try to bridge the remaining differences, with the goal of reconvening the meeting of ministers at an unspecified date.
In the heavily guarded convention center here exhausted negotiators from the United States and other countries lay slumped on chairs. Others drank beer as the ``Silent Night'' Christmas carol played over the sound system.
Elsewhere in the building, critics of the WTO were crying and laughing with joy at the news and said the street protests against the meeting had brought victory.
``History has been made in Seattle as the allegedly irresistible forces of corporate economic globalization were stopped in their tracks,'' said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
Blame Game Starts
As the shock of the failure of the talks sunk in, the recriminations began. ``It's the beginning of the blame game,'' one Canadian delegate said.
Some developing countries, who make up two-thirds of the WTO's membership, blamed the United States for the fiasco.
``The host country was a protagonist, an advocate on too many issues, to bring about a compromise,'' said Kobsak Chutikul, director general of economic affairs from Thailand's Foreign Ministry.
Australian trade official Mitch Hooke said divisions within the European Union and the upcoming U.S. presidential election undermined political support for a new trade round.
``We're in a no man's land. How much of a political imperative was there to get the deal done? Not as much as you want,'' he said.
U.S. officials blamed the enormity of the task facing delegates and entrenched positions.
Negotiators could not even move beyond differences on agriculture to deal with other intractable disputes over labor standards and anti-dumping, a U.S. official said.
Thailand's Kobsak complained that the process was dominated by the United States, the EU and Japan. ``We hope the Director-General can put it back together again in three to four months.''
Others took comfort in the progress made, which they thought could be built on. ``The progress that has been made is not lost. The progress that has been made will be frozen,'' said Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile.
The WTO and the United States, as host, had an enormous amount at stake in the talks, which were marred by demonstrations by thousands of anti-free trade protesters, some of whom smashed store windows and battled with teargas-firing police this week.
U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and WTO Moore both declared before the meeting that there was too much at stake for the meeting to fail.
Developing nations had said they were being steamrollered by the big powers in a bid to reach a deal at any cost.
The European Union was unhappy about language in a draft agreement proposing to cut domestic farm supports and eventually eliminate farm export subsidies and wanted concessions in other areas in order to agree.
European diplomats said there had been progress on labor standards, with a draft text drawn up along the lines of an EU proposal calling for a joint International Labor Organization/WTO working forum on trade and labor issues.
Labor standards are a key demand for Clinton, who has one eye on labor unions, a key constituency for Democrats going into the 2000 presidential election.
Anti-dumping rules were also a major stumbling block for negotiators. Japan and other critics want the WTO to renegotiate the rules, which allow the U.S. government to impose punitive duties and tariffs on foreign-made products it deems to be sold at less than production costs.
Seattle officials, who have seen their city center trashed by some of the demonstrators, were eager to see the meeting wrap up so businesses wouldn't lose any more holiday shopping days due to a security crackdown.