Politico: WTO head pushes for last-ditch trade deal

Politico: WTO head pushes for last-ditch trade deal
November 26, 2013
By: Doug Palmer

The head of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday urged countries to take one last stab at reaching a reputation-saving trade deal before the group’s ministerial meeting in Bali next week, after the talks collapsed over what the United States said was a “small handful” of countries blocking agreement on customs, agriculture and development issues. …

[A] leading U.S. business group put the blame squarely on India.

“India’s machinations to seek yet another exemption from the international trading system agricultural rules was a prime cause of the demise of the trade facilitation negotiations,” Linda Dempsey, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a blog.

The United States and India have sparred over New Delhi’s push for a change in WTO rules that would allow it to exceed its current spending cap on trade-distorting farm subsidies.