World trade negotiations to go on fast track : US, Brazil
05 Jan 2007
New York: World trade negotiations will speed up in 2007 said US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim after a meeting in New York. They said tough bargaining is necessary to revive the Doha Round of trade talks, which collapsed in July over agricultural policies. They said progress is quietly being made.
Both the officials, who met in Rio de Janeiro in September, said the outcome of US congressional elections and the re-election of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last year should not affect the direction of the trade talks.
Some analysts fear that with Democrats in control with the US Congress, it will be hard for president George W Bush to renew the trade promotion authority, or TPA, which allows the White House to negotiate agreements that can not be amended by Congress.
The legislation expires July 1 and, without an extension, the Doha round could be dead until after the 2008 US presidential election.
Schwab will also discuss the Doha round with European officials next week, during a US-EU summit in Washington, and should meet Amorim again on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of the month.
