Washington: The Barack Obama
administration lauded an agreement on trade rules struck by the World
Trade Organization (WTO), while analysts said the deal may do more to
salvage broader WTO talks than solve food shortages and help global
commerce.
The draft deal unveiled on Saturday in Bali, Indonesia, was the
first multilateral agreement negotiated by the WTO’s 159 member nations.
It emerged after the US and India compromised on food subsidies and a
Latin American bloc led by Cuba dropped its opposition to an agreement. A
successful deal may add $1 trillion to the world economy, according to
supporters among business groups.
Humanitarian advocates, though, said it produces few
gains for the poor, while farm groups in the US—the world’s biggest
agricultural exporter—had little reaction. Still, the accord may help
extend talks on the Doha round of trade negotiations, which have dragged
on for 12 years and stalled over agriculture, industrial tariffs and
services.
A successful Bali buys the WTO time to prove that
multilateral trade talks can be productive on a regular basis and in a
timely manner, said Terence Stewart, a trade lawyer based in Washington,
in an e-mail on Saturday. The risk is that members will not address the
underlying issues that have crippled the organization’s ability to
respond to the changing business environment.
The Bali agreement was part of a once-every-two-years
ministerial conference at which WTO members may make decisions on issues
of common concern. In the Doha round of talks, begun in 2001,
negotiators are seeking major revisions to the international trading
system, including lower tariffs.
Crop Subsidies
The deal reached in Bali lets India and other developing
nations continue to subsidize their crops to bolster food security
without having to worry about legal challenges, so long as the practice
doesn’t distort international trade, according to a draft text. The US
and other members of the Geneva-based WTO would retain the right to file
a complaint if subsidized goods are sold in global markets and depress
prices or harm competitors.
The accord will also require India to provide more reporting of its 
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