July 18, 2008  U.S. and China.  The top US trade official said Thursday China is key to a breakthrough in World Trade Organization trade liberalization talks next week and has a "particular obligation" to make concessions. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab noted that China's benefits from the opening of their trade system amounted to "hundreds of billion of dollars." Concerns about a flood of Chinese exports worldwide are particularly heightened in developing countries, where resistance is mounting as economies seek protection for their domestic sectors. China joined the WTO in December 2001, just after the launch of the Doha Round, and has seen its exports explode under the free-trade regime. Schwab heads a team due to leave Washington Thursday for a gathering of ministers of 30 countries in Geneva aimed at salvaging the floundering Doha Round, launched nearly seven years ago in the Qatari capital. The US trade official said she has had "good conversations" with Chinese officials recently and "likes" to think that China is willing to make a market opening contribution to achieve a successful outcome.

July 17, 2008  Bananas.  The European Union stated yesterday that it would accept a World Trade Organization compromise on banana imports to soothe a long-running dispute with Latin American and African, Caribbean and Pacific nations a week before global trade talks start. The WTO has criticized Europe for breaking trade rules by favoring imports from African and Caribbean banana growers — many former French and British colonies — over lower-cost producers such as Ecuador. The European Commission said it was ready to cut import charges on Latin American bananas to €116 (US$185) per metric ton (1.1 ton) — down from €176 (US$281) — by 2015 if all countries would agree to drop further legal action. It said it wanted all 152 WTO members to back this as part of the Doha round of WTO trade talks that have tried, since 2001, to strike a wide-ranging pact to open up global trade. Ministers from major trading nations will meet in Geneva next week in a last-ditch effort to strike a deal.

The U.S. has also complained about the EU tariffs, seeking compensation that would allow Washington to levy retaliatory taxes on European goods equal to the amount of damage incurred by American companies such as Chiquita Brands International Inc. The EU has repeatedly tinkered with the banana import rules in recent years but none of the changes has withstood legal challenges made to the WTO. Latin American bananas currently have around 60 percent of the EU banana market, while African and Caribbean producers have 20 percent, according to EU officials. Bananas grown in the EU — mostly on Spanish and French islands — account for the other 20 percent.

July 16, 2008  WTO.  WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said the chances of success for reaching a world-trade agreement have increased as a result of talks before trade ministers meet next week in Geneva. Lamy made the remark while presenting a WTO report in advance of the meeting in which ministers will decide the fate of the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of free-trade talks. Lamy said that an agreement is even more important given the "dire" state of the world economy. After seven years of negotiations, the director-general acknowledges the round has reached a decisive phase. Lamy said that reaching a trade deal is key, but the world economy could overshadow an agreement. He said that economic research indicted that a Doha deal could boost the world economy by nearly $50 billion a year. But Lamy said recent surveys on globalization show most countries are tentative about international trade benefiting their countries. The WTO report said that in some countries specialization in agriculture and industry had lead to increased income. Both consumers and producers have benefited from a wider choice of products at lower prices, it said.  But it added other countries have not shared as much in these gains as a result of trade costs such as tariffs, non-tariff barriers, transportation, communication, and insurance.

July 15, 2008  WTO talks.   European farmers said Monday that an agricultural deal on the table at upcoming World Trade Organization talks would cost them billions of euros (dollars) and at least a half-million jobs. The president of the European farmers' lobby COPA, said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson was wrong when he claimed that failing to strike a deal in WTO talks that begin Friday would shut Europe off from freer global trade. The current proposal would slash farm subsidies and open up the EU to more agricultural exports such as Brazilian beef that costs far less to produce than European rivals. The farmers' group said European consumers object to a deal that would make "consumers in the EU even more dependent on imports for their basic food supplies at a time of a world food crisis." It said EU officials had failed to win concessions from Brazil, India and other developing nations that would allow Europe to export more machinery and electronics, and services such as telecommunications, in exchange for letting more foreign farm goods into Europe.

WTO negotiators offered new proposals last week for reforming the rules that govern the trade in farm and manufactured goods, as they geared up for a high-level meeting aimed at reaching a breakthrough on the Doha round of global trade talks. EU trade ministers will discuss the proposals Friday before ministers from about 30 major trading powers meet in Geneva the week of July 21 to seek agreement on the commerce liberalization talks that started in Doha, Qatar's capital, almost seven years ago. Rich and poor countries have haggled ever since over changes to global trade rules, with the fight between rapidly developing nations such as China, India and Brazil on the one hand and the United States and Europe on the other taking center stage.

July 14, 2008  Doha continued. U.S. manufacturers urged Brazil, India, China and other major developing countries on Friday to agree to eliminate tariffs in key industrial sectors to help reach a deal in long-running world trade talks. "The key to whether the Doha Round succeeds in truth lies in sectoral trade agreements that would seek to eliminate tariffs in key sectors," John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement. World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy has called key players in the nearly seven-year-old Doha round to Geneva the week of July 20 to finally make decisions on a number of vexing issues in the talks. Trade ministers will be asked to agree on how much major developed nations like the United States, the European Union and Japan are to cut their farm subsidies. They will also face decisions on how much to cut farm tariffs, and the number of agricultural products that both rich and poor countries can protect from any cuts by providing imports quotas for foreign suppliers. The chairmen of both the agriculture and manufactured goods negotiating groups issued new texts of a proposed deal on Thursday that highlight the areas still to be decided.  The United States and the European Union complain the proposed tariff-cutting formula for countries such as China, India and Brazil would not provide new export opportunities. 

July 11, 2008  Doha proposals.  Negotiators on Thursday offered new proposals for reforming the rules that govern the trade in farm and manufactured goods, less than two weeks before a high-level meeting aimed at reaching a breakthrough on the Doha round of global trade talks. Agriculture chairman Crawford Falconer and his counterpart for industrial goods, Don Stephenson, said the compromise papers were clearer and better reflected the concerns of the World Trade Organization's 152 members. It's now largely up to ministers to discuss the proposals and decide which cuts to subsidies and tariffs they can justify to their constituents. Ministers from about 30 major trading powers will meet in Geneva the week of July 21 with a brief to seek agreement on the commerce liberalization talks that started in Qatar's capital almost seven years ago. Rich and poor countries have since haggled over changes to global trade rules, with the fight between rapidly developing nations such as China, India and Brazil on the one hand and the United States and Europe on the other taking center stage. A spokesman for the 27-nation European Union, said the new proposals were showed "some positive steps" but stressed there are "important gaps that still need to be bridged."

July 10, 2008  The Developing Eight.  Eight Islamic developing nations, led by Malaysia and Indonesia, agreed Tuesday to embark on joint ventures to boost food production as they endorsed a 10-year blueprint to expand trade cooperation. In a joint statement, the Developing Eight summit warned that the current global shortage and skyrocketing prices of food pose a "serious threat" to socio-economic stability. They also urged the international community to take action to tame spiraling oil prices and vowed to collaborate to develop alternative fuels and peaceful uses of nuclear energy — in apparent support for Iran's nuclear program that has been criticized by the West.  The group will promote joint ventures between their companies on projects to produce fertilizer, animal feed and create a seed bank to ease supply constraints in agricultural output.

Formed in 1997, the summit brings together Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria — a market of nearly 1 billion people. The meeting coincides with the Group of Eight summit under way in northern Japan. The Islamic group also endorsed a 10-year blueprint to raise trade among its members to US$517.5 billion by 2018, or 15-20 percent of their combined total estimated trade. The countries' trade with one another is currently around US$49 billion, or less than 5 percent of their total trade. The plans include a preferential trade agreement to remove barriers on selected goods and ease visa procedures for their businessmen. Only Malaysia and Iran have so far ratified the preferential trade pact.

July 9, 2008  G-8 and food exports.  Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations Tuesday urged food producing countries to scrap restrictions on food exports, saying such measures exacerbate the global food crisis and hinder the delivery of food aid to those in need. In a statement at the end of the second day of the three-day summit meeting, the G8 officials called it “imperative” to lift bans on food exports.  Their language was clearly more forceful than the message from a U.N.-hosted food summit in Rome in June calling for minimizing food export restrictions. The G-8 leaders’ sharper wording underlined how concerned they are about soaring food prices, which are fueling inflation and undermining years of global efforts to reduce poverty. 

The G8 nations, for their part, are “determined to take all possible measures in a coordinated manner,” including addressing the needs of “the most vulnerable people.” Multiyear steps will include boosting the world’s agriculture investment, helping farmers become more productive, promoting agricultural research and development, and improving infrastructure like irrigation systems, transportation and quality control. The G8 comprises the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Canada and Russia. In recent years, countries such as Vietnam, Argentina, Indonesia, Brazil, India and Egypt have adopted various export restrictions on crops such as rice and wheat. Such limits have played a role in causing the prices of soy beans, wheat and corn to double over the past year, analysts say.  Other factors have also played a role. Soaring crude oil prices, for example, have made it more expensive to transport food. An influx of speculative money into the commodities markets - partially as a result of the U.S. housing crisis making financial markets a riskier place to invest - has also pushed up food prices.  The G8 leaders’ food statement didn’t call for the cessation of the biofuels development, a position opposed by the U.S., a major producer of such fuels. But the statement said governments must “ensure the compatibility of policies” between biofuels production and food security. Biofuels include ethanol, made from sugar or corn. The G8 officials also called for the promotion and development of “second-generation biofuels” from non-food plant materials and inedible biomass.

July 8, 2008  G-8 Summit.  Aid for Africa — and whether enough was coming from the world's major economic powers — was in the spotlight Monday as the Group of Eight nations planned to meet with seven African leaders at its annual summit. Activists have accused some G-8 countries, particularly France, Canada and Italy, of skimping on aid to Africa, and urged them to ramp up their contributions. The U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany and Russia make up the other members of the G-8. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also has urged G-8 leaders to take a tough stance on Zimbabwe in the wake of President Robert Mugabe's widely denounced election win. Mugabe was the only candidate in the presidential runoff after his opponent dropped out amid reports of state-sponsored violence. President Bush, arriving Sunday for his eighth and final Group of Eight summit, emphasized the urgency of providing aid for Africa, calling on wealthy nations to provide mosquito nets and other aid to prevent children from "needlessly dying from mosquito bites."

Africa was at the center of the G-8 summit three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, where leaders pledged to double aid to the continent to $25 billion by 2010 and to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted poor nations. Advocacy groups for Africa and hunger gave the G-8 a mixed report card on progress in reaching its commitments to Africa. Collectively, the G-8 has delivered just $3 billion of the $25 billion pledged to Africa in 2005, according to DATA, which stands for Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa, a group founded by U2 singer Bono and music producer Bob Geldof, both of whom are active in campaigns for Africa. Germany, the U.S. and Britain were following through on commitments, while progress from Japan, France, Italy and Canada was either unclear or weak, DATA said.

July 7, 2008  U.S. and G-8 Summit.   U.S. President George W. Bush put advancing world trade talks and increasing aid to Africa high on his agenda Sunday for an upcoming summit of major economic powers that is also expected to focus on energy and climate change. Bush met Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first of many expected meetings between world leaders on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit that begins today on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. The three-day summit also includes meetings between the G-8 leaders and heads of several African countries and major developing nations including China, Brazil and India - a total of 22 leaders. Host Japan has made climate change a key topic at the meeting, and many hope the G-8 will give some indication of its commitment to cutting greenhouse gases to move forward U.N.-led talks aimed at replacing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which expires in 2012. Negotiators face a deadline of December 2009, when some 190 nations will meet in Denmark.

July 7, 2008  G-8 Summit.   The Toyako summit, which runs from Monday to Wednesday and brings together leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, is also expected to address international security issues that include the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iranian nuclear standoff and the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Although G8 foreign ministers "reiterated the G8's full support" for the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the talks have hobbled along due to the failure of all Palestinian forces to speak as one. Israel, as the United States and the European Union have listed the Hamas movement as "a terrorist organization", had ruled out talks with the Palestinian movement. The West and Iran are still far from agreeing on Tehran's nuclear program. Iran has offered a response to an updated package of incentives proposed by six major countries - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Iranian government spokesmen state that the Islamic republic has made no change in its nuclear stance and will hold on to its right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. In Toyako, G8 leaders also need to address worsening security in Afghanistan and continued anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq.

July 4, 2008  U.S. celebrates Independence Day.

July 3, 2008  Cape Verde.  According to the World Trade Organization, Cape Verde is going to be the 153rd country to become a member of the organization. The World Trade Organization says the nation, made up of nine islands west of Africa, has accepted the commitments to become a member and having met its entry requirements, Cape Verde set to become part of the organization in late July. The WTO’s accession process can take up to five years and by successfully meeting the WTO’s entry requirements, the Cape Verde government has demonstrated its ability to bring its trade and economic policies up to standard. Cape Verde WTO membership bodes well not only for the country but for investors in Cape Verde. The most recent countries to become members of the World Trade Organization were Ukraine, Vietnam, Tonga and Cambodia. All countries with strong emerging property markets.

July 2, 2008 U.S.  U.S. automakers, now facing their worst sales slump in 15 years, are nervously eyeing world trade talks they fear could open the U.S. market to more imports without giving their exports a boost. The automakers' anxiety is matched by concerns in the U.S. textile and steel industry as world trade negotiators prepare to take what many believe is a high-stakes gamble to bring the nearly seven-year-old trade round to a successful close. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and top trade officials from Europe, India, Brazil and other leading World Trade Organization members will gather in Geneva the week of July 20 to try to strike a deal. If they fail, it could be the death blow for the long struggling round or at least knock it out for years. The United States, which has a 2.5 percent tariff on passenger cars and a 25 percent duty on light trucks, imported $245.8 billion of autos and auto parts last year but exported only about half that amount, or $124.3 billion.

July 1, 2008  International food costs.  At least 29 countries have sharply curbed food exports in recent months, to ensure that their own people have enough to eat, at affordable prices. When it comes to rice, India, Vietnam, China and 11 other countries have limited or banned exports. Fifteen countries, including Pakistan and Bolivia, have capped or halted wheat exports. More than a dozen have limited corn exports. Kazakhstan has restricted exports of sunflower seeds. The restrictions are making it harder for impoverished importing countries to afford the food they need. The export limits are forcing some of the most vulnerable people, those who rely on relief agencies, to go hungry. And by increasing perceptions of shortages, the restrictions have led to hoarding around the world, by farmers, traders and consumers.

June 30, 2008  African Union summit.  African foreign ministers urged Saturday that rich members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to show flexibility during the ongoing Doha Round trade negotiations.  The African foreign ministers made the call in a draft resolution on the second day of the 13th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council ahead of an upcoming AU Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort. The draft resolution said WTO members, especially rich ones, should honor their commitments and show more flexibility during the prolonged Doha Round, which is launched in 2001 with the aim to boost world trade. Calling for ending the Doha Round talks without undermining Africa's development process, the African foreign ministers expressed full commitment to reaching a just and balanced world trade system based on multilateral trade.  A second top priority decision being discussed is the position to be taken with Zimbabwe's sham of "electing" Robert Mugabe - will he be backed or thrown out. He states he has done nothing worse than many other African leaders seeking power.

June 27, 2008  U.S.  The U.S. has announced that it will ease some trade restrictions with North Korea and remove them from the state sponsors of terrorism list in 45 days, following the regime's declaration of its nuclear activities earlier in the day. North Korea must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separated plutonium and resolve outstanding questions about its highly-enriched uranium and proliferation activities. During the 45-day verification process, the United States will carefully observe North Korea's actions, but believes that their removal from the terrorism blacklist and the lifting of the Trading with the Enemy Act will have little impact on North Korea's economic and diplomatic isolation.

June 27, 2008  EU and Russia.  A summit meeting between Russia and the European Union - a gathering both sides say should define a new relationship between the global energy giant and the 27 European countries that are among its best clients. At the behest of Russia, the meeting is actually taking place outside Europe - east of the Urals. Its streets may be named after Soviet heroes, but this city boasts an array of shiny new buildings, the fruits of booming oil prices in this capital of the Yurga region, which produces 7.5 percent of  global output. Talks are scheduled to discuss which official parlance terms a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, an overarching treaty to replace an old accord that expired last year. Although the old agreement renews automatically, both sides agree that a new pact is needed to replace one forged in the very different conditions of the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was the Europeans who blocked talks for 18 months as Poland, and later Lithuania, both former Soviet vassals suspicious of Moscow, blocked agreement on the negotiating mandate because of trading and other disputes. Negotiations are expected to be prickly, not least because Russia seeks a broad accord, with details left until later, while some Europeans say that would reduce their leverage. The summit meeting is the first test, though, of whether the EU can fashion a healthier relationship with Russia's Medvedev than it had with Putin.  These two partners depend on each other: the EU consumes roughly two-thirds of the gas that Russia exports and accounts for more than half of Russia's foreign trade. Russia is the EU's third-most-important trading partner, after the United States and China, accounting for 6.2 percent of EU exports and 10.4 percent of EU imports in 2006.

June 26, 2008  WTO meeting.  Trade powers will meet next month for a long-awaited attempt at a breakthrough in global trade talks which could be delayed for years if a deal is not reached soon. World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy called on Wednesday for a group of ministers to meet, probably for several days, from July 21 to push the Doha round of global free trade talks toward conclusion. The July meeting would include between 35 and 40 ministers representing a range of interests in the negotiations about opening up agriculture, industry and services markets, which Lamy is aiming to wrap up in 2008. If those ministers can successfully broker trade-offs in farming and manufacturing - the most difficult areas of the talks - diplomats said the basics of a Doha accord could go to the WTO's full membership as early as the end of July. Services would be discussed briefly by ministers and finalized later.

June 25, 2008  Austria and EU.  Austria has lifted a ban on importing and processing genetically modified corn as part of the European Union's efforts to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling on biotech foods. The 27-nation EU informed trading partners that it was cooperating in good faith with Argentina, Canada and the United States, which have successfully pressed their case at the WTO. The EU said it was taking steps to comply with a 2006 ruling that European countries illegally hindered the sale of genetically modified foods and cited the decision of the Austrian government, long one of Europe's most resistant, to allow genetically modified maize to be imported and processed. The bloc said the ban was lifted on May 27.

June 25, 2008  South Korea and U.S. beef.  South Korea has stated that it will resume imports of U.S. beef after American and South Korean suppliers agreed to block meat from older cattle.  South Korea had agreed to allow resumed American beef imports in April — seeking to improve relations with Washington and pave the way for a larger free-trade deal between the two countries to help reinvigorate the South Korean economy. The beef-loving South has allowed intermittent U.S. beef imports since banning it in 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was discovered there.  The April agreement had few restrictions on what meat would be allowed, sparking protests against the government for caving in to American demands and failing to consider public opinion about health risks. In the wake of demonstrations that grew as large as 80,000 people, President Lee replaced all his top advisers and his entire Cabinet also has offered to resign. The demonstrations have since dwindled, with police stating that approximately 9,600 protesters gathered Saturday evening in Seoul.

June 24, 2008  Cape Verde.  The World Trade Organization says Cape Verde will become the 153rd country to join the global organization next month. The WTO says the nine-island nation off western Africa has accepted a list of commitments it must make as a member. Cape Verde is struggling with large-scale emigration given its dearth of natural resources and scant industrial development. The country's economy relies largely on foreign aid and remittances from emigrants in Europe and the United States. It has a population of about a half-million. The WTO states that Cape Verde had resolved issues related to trading rights, investment rules, taxes and export subsidies and would officially join the organization on July 23.

June 24, 2008  Russia.  Russia could complete multilateral talks on its admission to the World Trade Organization this fall, a Russian delegation representative said after a regular round of talks in Geneva yesterday. Russian authorities earlier said negotiations may be completed in the summer and that Russia could join the global trade body by the end of 2008. Last week, the working group on Russia's bid to join the WTO read out a new wording of its draft report on Russia's trade regime and commitments. This report is expected to form the basis of the final document on Russia's WTO accession. The EU commissioner for trade said on June 19 that Russia would become a WTO member by November 2009, and could complete talks on its accession to the global trade organization later this year.  June 23, 2008  WTO talks.  World trade talks appeared Friday in an even more desperate state than previously thought, with a key negotiator saying that rich and poor countries remained far from agreement on long-standing problems in agricultural commerce. The damning assessment by Roberto Azevedo, Brazil's ambassador to the World Trade Organization, dampens much of the fantastically optimistic speculation by global leaders in recent weeks that a deal could be taking shape, citing what they deemed progress in talks to free up farm trade. A series of meetings aimed at lowering barriers to manufacturing trade have been "not productive," while the situation in agriculture is little better, even if rich countries seem content to say those negotiations are now complete, he said. The seven years of trade talks have seen repeated flops and failings, with rich countries refusing to significantly cut the farm subsidies and tariffs that developing nations say hinder their development. The United States, the European Union and Japan are among those demanding wide concessions in industrial trade and services as part of a grand trade-off, but have been stifled.

June 20, 2008  Oil prices.  Crude oil fell more than $4 a barrel, the biggest drop in 11 weeks, on speculation demand will decline, after China said it will raise fuel prices starting today. China, the second-biggest fuel consumer after the U.S., will increase gasoline and diesel prices by as much as 18 percent, the National Development and Reform Commission said. Saudi Arabian has called for a meeting between oil producers and consumers on June 22 in Jeddah.

Crude oil for July delivery fell $4.75, or 3.5 percent, to settle at $131.93 a barrel at 2:50 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest drop since March 31. Futures climbed to a record $139.89 on June 16. Prices are 91 percent higher than a year ago.  Brent crude oil for August settlement declined $4.44, or 3.3 percent, to settle at $132 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices climbed to a record $139.32 on June 16.  Saudi Arabia plans to increase crude-oil production by 200,000 barrels a day, according to a statement from the kingdom's embassy in London. China will raise jet-fuel prices by 1,500 yuan a ton, or 25 percent, tomorrow, the top policy planner said. On July 1, China will increase electricity prices by an average 0.025 yuan a kilowatt-hour, or 4.7 percent. China will impose temporary caps on thermo-coal prices until the end of this year.  

June 19, 2008  OPEC and the WTO.  Eleven senators called on the Bush administration Tuesday to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization against eight members of the OPEC cartel, saying they are violating trade rules by colluding to hold down global oil supplies. The senators, 10 Democrats and one independent, maintained "the very existence of OPEC" violates the GATT trade agreement that prohibits nations from setting quotas or imposing other restrictions on exports. The OPEC members for years have gathered periodically to establish production quotas. Despite the current surge in oil prices, well over $100 a barrel and growing global demand, OPEC members as a group have refused to boost production. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, is hosting a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations in Jeddah on Sunday to discuss ways to tackle soaring oil prices. The OPEC countries argue that market speculation and the declining value of the dollar has caused the high prices that have hovered above $130 a barrel in recent weeks.

Over the weekend, Saudi officials indicated they would increase oil output by 200,000 barrels a day, or by 2 percent, from June to July. In May, it said it was boosting production by 300,000 barrels a day in June to make up for reductions by other OPEC countries. The 13 OPEC members account for about 40 percent of world oil production. Members of Congress increasingly have targeted OPEC for criticism as they look for ways to respond to public anger over $4 a gallon (3.8 liters) gasoline and the record high oil prices. Congressional Democrats also have been considering legislation that would give the Justice Department authority to take antitrust actions against OPEC nations in U.S. courts. The eight OPEC members that also belong to the WTO are Angola, Ecuador, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

June 18, 2008  Food crisis.  Rising global food prices threaten to destroy years of economic progress in Africa and drive 100 million people into poverty, a high-profile international panel said Monday. The Africa Progress Panel also said wealthy countries are likely to fail in their promise to deliver billions more in aid to the continent by 2010. The panel was formed last year to focus world leaders' attention on the continent and monitor progress toward meeting ambitious aid commitments. Its 11 members include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof. In its annual report, the panel called on leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations to "urgently fund shortfalls against their targets to double assistance to Africa by 2010." The July 2005 G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, garnered commitments to increase foreign aid by US$50 billion a year by 2010 — with half of that going directly to Africa — and to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted poor nations. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in April that foreign aid by major donor countries slumped in 2007 as debt-relief plans tapered off and amid a global economic downturn in Japan and some other rich nations. The Africa Progress Panel concluded that despite increases in assistance by some countries, "the G-8's commitment to double assistance to Africa by 2010 is not likely to be fulfilled." It said current commitments fell US$40 billion short of the Gleneagles target. The panel called on the G-8 countries — U.S., Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada — to tackle the food crisis and promote trade, infrastructure and governance reforms when they meet in Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7-9.June 17, 2008  Russia.  Georgia did not participate in talks on a working group’s report on Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) which took place yesterday in Geneva. In April, Georgia blocked talks on Russian accession, demanding that Moscow reverse a decision - made earlier that month - to increase ties with the separatist authorities in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia's foremost demand - before approving Russian WTO membership is that Moscow allow Georgian border officers to be stationed at two border crossings with Russia which lie in separatist-controlled territory.  Georgia and Saudi Arabia are the only countries clearly withholding consent on Russian World Trade Organization (WTO) membership - which requires unanimous approval from current members.

June 16, 2008  South Korea, U.S. and beef.  South Korea's president vowed Sunday not to allow the import of meat from older cattle, in hopes of quelling public anger at the government's decision to resume beef imports from the United States. President Lee Myung-bak's comments came as the chief American and South Korean trade envoys launched talks in Washington aimed at resolving the dispute over the resumption of U.S. beef shipments. Tens of thousands of people have protested in Seoul in recent weeks, demanding that the beef import deal be renegotiated and urging the president to resign.  South Korea was the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef until it banned imports after a case of mad cow disease was detected in 2003, the first of three confirmed cases in the United States. Seoul agreed in April to reopen its market for U.S. beef, scrapping nearly all quarantine regulations. The new agreement, which came just hours before Lee held his first summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, was widely seen as a concession aimed at getting the United States to approve a broader trade deal.

June 16, 2008  OPEC.  OPEC on Friday cut its 2008 estimate of growth in world oil demand, as high prices and slower economic growth brake demand in major industrialized countries and the United States in particular. Global oil demand was now projected to grow by 1.28 percent in 2008, compared with the previous estimate of 1.35 percent, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries said in its June monthly report. "World oil demand growth (in 2008) is forecast to grow by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to average 86.88 million bpd, a downward revision of 0.1 million bpd from the previous report," OPEC said. The slowing world economy and mild winter is weighing on demand in industrialized countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OPEC said. At the same time, oil demand remains strong in non-OECD countries.

June 13, 2008  South Korea, U.S. and beef.  South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon sates that he will leave Friday for Washington, where he plans to ask for help in adjusting the explosive April deal to resume American beef imports. He calls the planned talks "additional negotiations." He will look for ways to limit American beef imports to meat from cattle under 30 months of age, as a way to end massive protest rallies. South Korean protesters fear U.S. beef - especially from cattle more than two-and-a-half years old - poses a risk of transmitting a fatal brain ailment known as "mad cow disease." Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Seoul, almost nightly for about a month - culminating in Tuesday's massive rally that appeared to include about 100,000 people. Washington has asserted American beef, of any age, is safe. That view was supported last year by the United Nations World Organization for Animal Health. No human has ever been known to contract brain disease from eating U.S. beef. South Korea's scientific community has been conspicuously absent from the highly politicized protest movement.  American lawmakers have warned the resumption of U.S. beef imports to South Korea is a prerequisite for ratifying a much larger trade deal the two countries signed last year. Minister Kim, who was South Korea's chief negotiator in the deal, says he does not want to create the appearance his country is breaking its promises. He says his mission is to seek a "voluntary" agreement between importers and exporters that would keep older beef from being shipped.  Analysts say such an agreement could be backed by government assurances and spelled out in the form of some new document to be signed by both countries.

June 12, 2008  Trade talks.  The United States and the European Union have called for urgent progress in talks over a world trade deal which could be delayed for years if there is no breakthrough soon. The Doha round was launched in 2001 to boost the world economy and help poor countries fight poverty by exporting more.  But a string of deadlines have been missed and any deal could be put on hold for several more years due to the change in the U.S. presidency and other factors.  A dozen World Trade Organization countries began a new phase of discussions in Geneva on Monday to try to narrow differences on how to lower barriers to industrial goods in the Doha round. If the negotiators find common ground, the WTO is likely to summon ministers in late June or early July to try to agree on the outlines of a deal on industrial and farm goods. 

June 11, 2008  U.S. trade.  The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in April as the average price for imported oil jumped to a record $96.81 per barrel and U.S. exports and imports also set records, a Commerce Department report showed on Tuesday. The monthly trade gap grew nearly 7.8 percent to $60.9 billion from a downwardly revised $56.5 billion in March. The gain was the biggest since September 2005. Wall Street analysts had forecast a smaller rise in the trade gap to $59.9 billion, from the previous March figure of $58.2 billion. Average prices for imported oil rose $6.96 per barrel in April, the second highest increase on record. Imports from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries totaled a record $20.9 billion. Overall U.S. imports of goods and services were a record $216.4 billion, and showed their biggest one-month gain since November 2002. Although oil accounted for much of the increase, imports of autos and capital goods bounced back from a drop in March. U.S. exports also rebounded to a record $155.5 billion in April after retreating slightly in March. The month-to-month rise was the biggest in more than four years.

June 10, 2008 China and U.S.   The Chinese ambassador to the World Trade Organization on Monday asked the US to take action to stabilize the dollar, which has fallen sharply in the past year. During the biennial trade policy review of the world's largest economy by the World Trade Organization, China also raised its concerns over "rising sentiment of protectionism" in the United States, saying that it could threaten global trade. The euro was trading at about 1.58 dollars in early European trading from 1.34 dollars one year ago. The ambassador also pointed to a recent move by the US Congress to pass a Farm Bill that maintains high agricultural subsidies, noting what it calls "rising sentiment of protectionism" in the US.  

In its review of the US trade policies, the WTO also urged the US not to give in to protectionism in the country's attempt to reduce its massive trade deficit. It warned against any pressures for protective barriers to reduce imports, saying the US should work instead to expand its exports to balance the account. "The US current account deficit reflects a savings-investment gap; thus, to the extent that this requires a policy response, trade restrictive measures are not appropriate," the WTO said. It argued that free trade could help the country cut its current account deficit by facilitating US exports. "Reducing the current account deficit is also likely to require expanding US exports, which would be facilitated by a more liberal trading system and stronger demand growth outside the United States," it said. The WTO also asked the US to encourage families to save more as it could help reduce this deficit in payments with the rest of the world.

June 9, 2008 WTO.  The European Union is cool on prospects for a significant breakthrough on a long-stalled world trade deal this week when negotiations resume in Geneva. The EU trade chief is neither optimistic nor pessimistic - urging negotiators on industrial tariffs to step up their talks, because the US presidential election is looming and a new US administration could force negotiations to start again from scratch.  A new World Trade Organization deal aims at boosting international trade to lift millions out of poverty, but disputes between rich Western countries and developing nations have held up a compromise. Although all 152 WTO members have to agree on a deal, the biggest differences are between rich countries that want to protect their farmers and developing nations that want to protect their manufacturing industry from aggressive rivals.

June 6, 2008 UN food summit.   Leaders at a summit on the world's food crisis quickly laid out their disagreements on a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to soaring prices that are causing hunger and unrest worldwide. Most countries and international organizations meeting Wednesday at the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization cited multiple causes, including rising energy costs, more demand for meat and dairy products from some booming developing countries, trade restrictions, speculation as well as the increased demand for biofuels. But how much each factor contributes was under debate at this week's summit. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for international guidelines for biofuel production. Discussion of whether to scale back or push ahead with the introduction of biofuels is likely to weigh heavily on attempts to come up with a global strategy to solve the crisis.  Fuels made from sugar cane, corn and other crops have been seen as a way to combat climate change and rising oil prices. The United States has been heavily subsidizing corn-based ethanol production. Last year, the 27-nation European Union endorsed a plan calling for biofuels to make up 10 percent of the fuel for road vehicles by 2020. But environmentalists, international groups and some countries are becoming increasingly wary of biofuels, which they say could accelerate global warming by encouraging deforestation — and contribute heavily to the commodities price hike by diverting production from food crops to biofuel crops.

June 5, 2008  EU - U.S. summit.  The European Union will press the United States to extend its visa waiver program to more EU nations at a summit of EU and U.S. leaders next week. Also on the agenda of the summit June 10 in Slovenia, the country that holds the rotating EU presidency, will be Iran's nuclear program, a new global trade deal, terrorism and food safety. The European Union has been pushing Washington to include all EU member states in the visa waiver system, which would allow EU citizens to travel to the United States without a visa. Greece and most new EU members from Eastern Europe are excluded from the program, meaning their citizens must apply for visas at U.S. embassies or consulates before traveling — and may not always have visas granted. Some of those countries have opted for bilateral deals with the U.S. on visa-free travel. That has prompted the EU's executive Commission to step up its efforts to forge a common EU approach, due to fears that Washington will use negotiations with individual countries to obtain information that could violate EU privacy laws.

June 4, 2008  Russia and Saudi Arabia.   Saudi Arabia has become the 60th WTO member with that has completed negotiations on market access with Russia - by signing a bilateral accession agreement. The ministry said Saudi Arabia was the last WTO member with whom Russia held bilateral negotiations on market access, adding that the agreement opens way for completion of multilateral negotiations. Ex-Soviet Georgia withdrew its signature under a bilateral agreement with Russia, in protest over a decree on links with its breakaway regions, while neighboring Ukraine, which joined the WTO last month, has not yet started talks with Russia.

June 4, 2008  Australia and U.S.   Australia and the United States will begin their annual ministerial-level trade talks from next year in a bid to further broaden the economic relationship between the two countries. The scheduled yearly talks will give Australia a chance to discuss with the U.S. a broad range of trade policy issues. This would include the Australia-U.S. free trade agreement (AUSFTA), trade in the Asia-Pacific region and multilateral trade negotiations, such as the Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

June 3, 2008  U.S.  The U.S. lost its final appeal Monday in a billion-dollar trade dispute with Brazil over subsidies to U.S. cotton growers. A World Trade Organization appeals panel reversed parts of an earlier ruling made last December, but found that on the whole the U.S. payments breach global commerce agreements. Brazil can now ask the WTO to authorize retaliatory trade sanctions on the U.S. that could run into the billions of dollars until Washington scraps the payments. U.S. lawmakers voted last month to overturn a veto by U.S. President George W. Bush and force through a farm bill worth US$290 billion (€187 billion) that will largely maintain the cotton payments for the next five years. U.S. trade officials said they were disappointed with the WTO panel's ruling and rejected Brazil's complaint that the payments distort the global cotton market. Brazil and several West African cotton-producing countries have long claimed that their farmers suffer because of Washington's payments to U.S. cotton growers, which amount to some US$3 billion (€1.9 billion) a year. Any trade sanctions imposed by Brazil will likely target U.S. trademarks, patents and commercial services, the South American country has warned.

June 2, 2008  APEC.    Trade ministers from 21 nations are meeting in Peru to rally support for a global trade deal, with discussions over agricultural subsidies dominating the initial talks.  Trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, known as APEC, began two days of talks today in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa. Leaders from countries including India and Italy have expressed doubts in recent weeks about whether enough progress is being made to make a global deal possible.  The 152-nation World Trade Organization is struggling to agree on a framework for an accord by the end of June. Talks have foundered over U.S. and European farm subsidies and access developed nations would have to industries and services in poorer countries. The so-called Doha Round of trade talks began in Doha, Qatar, in late 2001.