WTO negotiators reach tentative accord on major global trade issues

Key trade ministers tentatively agreed Saturday on a plan to end export subsidies on farm products and cut import duties around the world, a key step toward a comprehensive global accord under discussion since 2001, trade officials said. The deal was expected to be approved by all 147 members of the World Trade Organization later Saturday, opening the way for full negotiations to start in September. "Developed countries have recognized that agricultural trade with a heavy subsidy component is not free trade," said Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath. But he said the United States, European Union and other developed countries will also benefit by removing heavy agricultural subsidies from their budgets. Ken Ritter, president of the Canadian Wheat Board, said he's concerned the tentative deal would break a promise the Canadian government made to protect the grain marketing monopoly. In a breakthrough Saturday some 20 key countries approved a document setting out the framework for a legally binding treaty, World Trade Organization spokesman Keith Rockwell said. The document will commit countries to lowering import duties and reducing government support in the three major areas of international trade - industrial goods, agriculture and service industries, such as telecommunications and banking. The deal sets back in motion the long-stalled "round" of trade liberalization treaty talks that were launched by WTO members in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 but delayed by the collapse of the body's ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, last year. In agriculture, the document agrees to eliminate export subsidies and other forms of government support for exports, while making big cuts to other subsidies. It includes a "down payment" that would see an immediate 20-per-cent cut in the maximum permitted payments by rich countries.