Excerpt: Chances for a deal this year in long-running world trade talks are fading and likely will remain remote unless world leaders become personally involved, an influential U.S. business group said on Monday. “At the beginning of this year there was a new sense of optimism among negotiators in Geneva. That sense of optimism is now quickly fading away,” the National Foreign Trade Council said in a statement. The ongoing impasse in the nearly decade-old talks calls “into question the viability of the Doha round as it currently stands,” said the group, whose members include exporters like Boeing , Caterpillar and Microsoft… “Last week, several key delegations, particularly from emerging economic powers, dug in even deeper in positions that will prevent the conclusion of a deal,” the National Foreign Trade Council said in its statement. “After nearly a decade of talks, it is past time for world leaders to get personally involved and work together to deliver the political will to reach a strong positive result on the tough issues that are stalling the negotiations,” it said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-rt-business-us-usa-tratre72r600-20110328,0,5376061.story
