United States Mission Geneva

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced today that the United States and the European Union (EU) have initialed an agreement designed to lead to settlement of a longstanding dispute over the EU’s bananas trading regime.

In the wake of the financial crisis, the world needs a meaningful outcome at Doha that provides new and real economic opportunities. As President Obama described it, ‘not just any agreement, but an agreement that will open up markets and increase exports around the world.

The WTO’s vocation of economic growth and development requires a Doha outcome that goes beyond just capturing little more than the status quo in terms of market access. We need an outcome that truly creates new opportunities for all Members.

The WTOs activities have improved lives throughout the world, contributed to global growth and development, and provided a strong bulwark against protectionism in troubled times. The WTOs ongoing work has the potential to generate further economic growth and development that can lift millions out of poverty.

The global economy needs the WTO Members to deliver a strong outcome in the Doha Round of negotiations – and that is one that opens markets and creates significant new trading opportunities in agriculture, industrial goods and in services, generating global economic growth and development. The United States is committed to achieving such an outcome, and I believe that success is possible in 2010.

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk arrived in Geneva, Switzerland November 29 for the 7th Session of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference. While in Geneva, Kirk will meet multilaterally with trade ministers from America’s WTO partner economies, and will hold a number of meetings on the margins with key trading partners and blocs. The ministerial is not a formal negotiating session, but an opportunity to take stock of the global trading system and to discuss the importance of keeping markets open and beneficial trade flowing at this time of economic crisis.

The U.S., EU, and Mexico have asked the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel regarding China’s export restraints on numerous raw materials. The materials at issue are: bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal, silicon carbide, yellow phosphorus, and zinc, key inputs for numerous downstream products in the steel, aluminum, and chemical sectors across the globe.

The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), established in 1983, is the main forum for addressing bilateral trade matters and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China. In 2003, the U.S. President and the Chinese Premier agreed to elevate the leadership of the JCCT, so it would be chaired by the [...]

USTR announced October 8 that the United States has asked the WTO to establish a dispute settlement panel regarding the European Union’s (EU) restrictions on imports of U.S. poultry. The United States has asked the panel to review whether the EU’s ban on the import and marketing of poultry meat and poultry meat products processed with pathogen reduction treatments (PRTs) judged safe by U.S. and European food safety authorities is consistent with the EU’s WTO obligations.