Doha Round trade talks need different approach: U.S. expert

The Doha Round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is "doomed" and needs a new plan, said a former top U.S. trade official on Tuesday.

"There is not going to be a big happy conclusion and therefore we need to move on," former U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a speech at the Washington-based think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics. "It is time to try a different approach."

Schwab, who was trade representative from 2006 to 2009, argued in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine that the long-running Doha round is dead.

"The purpose of the article was an emperor has no cloth moment," she told the audience.

She noted that the gap between what the U.S. needs in an agreement to win congressional approval and what major developing countries like China, India and Brazil are willing to put on the table is too big.

The Doha Round was launched in late 2001 with the goal of helping poor countries prosper by removing barriers to trade.

The marathon talks have been stalled by "unbridgeable" gaps between the advanced economies and developing countries in many key areas, including agriculture and export subsidy among others.

It is expected that the Doha Round trade talks will be one of the key topics of the coming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum later this year. Although officials from the 21-member organization refuse to pronounce the round dead, they acknowledged that there were many uncompromisable obstacles.

Schwab said it is not a new idea that the Doha Round may be in trouble. She suggested that countries should try to get prepared for new focus on the next trade round in December when the WTO holds its next major meeting of all 153 members.

She said that the new plan could include sectoral agreements in areas like pharmaceuticals and medical devices and environmental goods and services.

Besides, the new talks could include industrial fishing subsidies and regulatory barriers to trade, Schwab added.

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