United Press International - Monday, 12 November 2001
Martin Walker, Chief International Correspondent

The main differences were between the rich world of the United States and the 15-nation European Union and the rest. But there were also sharp tensions between America and Europe over farm subsidies and labor rights, and further rows between both of them and Japan. And the poorer world was itself divided between the poor and the not so poor, between those dependent on agricultural exports and those clambering up the ranks of the industrialized world.

The United States and the European Union are committed to launching a new trade round at Doha, a procedure than can last for years as countries hammer out the rules for liberalizing international commerce yet further. But thus Euro-American solidarity began to crack Monday evening as European officials began to make a series of private deals with the developing world.

The European Union, focusing on its top priorities of protecting its complex farm subsidy system and environmental rules, has made a series of other concessions that threaten to isolate the American negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

The Europeans proposed a deal with Third World countries to let them fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic by getting around the patent rights of drug companies through a "public health" clause. Then the Union agreed to a compromise on labor rights with South Africa and the Caribbean countries. Then it agreed to "analyze and identify problems" with its policies on fishing subsidies, winning approval from South American and African nations where fishing plays a major economic role.

By contrast, America's Zoellick had relatively little room to maneuver. He arrived weakened at the WTO summit, Congress having neglected to equip him with the Trade Promotion Authority bill. Formerly known as "fast-track authority," the bill waives the right of Congress to haggle line by line over any new trade agreement, and instead lets the Bush administration do the detailed negotiations and then Congress either approves or rejects in on a single vote.

Moreover, the bill only passed narrowly through the House Ways and Means committee because three Democrats broke party ranks to approve. With such a small margin of support, Zoellick now has little room to bargain at Qatar over issues like anti-dumping legislation, textiles, labor and environmental standards and all the other areas where significant numbers in Congress stand very firm indeed.

The Europeans, by contrast, have been flexible on some issues in order to safeguard the ones where domestic political constraints mean they cannot compromise.

"The EU is refusing to commit to reducing export subsidies that have devastated the agricultural economies of developing nations. Appeasing French farmers appears more important to the European Union than giving poor countries a chance to establish sustainable market economies," commented Owen Lippert of the International policy Network, a group of 30 free-market institutes around the world.

Those most familiar with the WTO process were Monday night refusing to dismiss hope of a final deal that would "keep the WTO bicycle wobbling along." Some of the key players, like India and the European Union, are legendary for the readiness to stick to the their positions until the last minute, and then reach a final flurried deal in a hectic round of mutual compromises.

"A lot of the negotiators here need to convince people back home that they stuck to their guns almost to the end and very nearly died in the last ditch, until they finally compromised to save the world economy," noted one veteran European negotiator, who keeps a fresh shirt, electric razor and toothbrush in his briefcase to look spruce after an all-night session.

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