News & Insights

Calls for Getting Back to First Principles and Ambitious Objectives

Washington, DC – The NFTC today issued the following statement regarding situation in the WTO’s Doha Round of trade negotiations:

Mary Irace, NFTC Vice President for Trade and Export Finance, today urged WTO Members to go the extra distance to restart the suspended Doha Round negotiations.

Irace, who has just completed an intensive series of meetings with ambassadors and other senior officials in delegations to the WTO, noted, “The disappointment of the business community at the failure to make a break through on agriculture is clearly shared by WTO representatives in Geneva. At this critical moment we could see the enormous promise of the Doha Round just slip away. Failure would create serious risk and uncertainty in the global economy which would hurt prospects for world growth and development, and potentially sap business confidence.”

Following her meetings in Geneva, Irace noted, “I am impressed that delegations are already reengaging to try to find a way forward. The suspension of the talks was a wake-up call. Do WTO Members want a credible multilateral trading system that expands trade with widespread economic benefits?  Or will WTO Members pursue a harmful zero-sum approach to global trade policy making which reduces growth and economic opportunity? The NFTC believes it is time to get back to basics and push for real trade opening as a way to raise living standards worldwide.”

“The NFTC considers that success will require political will and vision from all the major partners. Certainly the US and the EU have critical roles to play, but so do advanced developing countries where the lion’s share of global growth will occur over the next 20 years. It is time that all those countries with a stake in open markets stood up to be counted. This certainly includes China as the world’s number three trader, but it also means that smaller developing and developed countries must play a bigger role in the search for an ambitious outcome,” Irace stated.

“Paring back ambition is clearly not the way forward. A major outcome with commercially meaningful results is the only way to build a strong foundation for the global economy in the years ahead,” Irace added.

Advancing Global Commerce for Over 90 Years

The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.