Trade Ministers To Resume Global Talks

World trade ministers have agreed to resume stalled negotiations aimed at reaching a new global agreement to lower tariffs and increase free trade. Members of the World Trade Organization will meet in Geneva this week to grapple with outstanding issues in the eight-year-old Doha Development Round of trade talks. If progress is made, further talks will be held later this month during the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, followed by a WTO ministerial meeting in November. Since the talks began in 2001, the International Council of Chemical Associations, the worldwide voice of the chemical industry, has been pushing for an agreement that would eliminate chemical tariffs worldwide. But developing countries have been reluctant to open their markets further for industrial goods, and the U.S. and other developed nations have balked at demands for deep cuts in agricultural subsidies. The Obama Administration's top trade official, Ron Kirk, says the U.S. is committed to concluding a multilateral deal by the end of 2010. "This fall can be a critical window for meaningful progress on the Doha talks," Kirk says.