[Ip-health] Financial Times: Changes raise doubts on US commitment to Doha trade talks

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

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Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, issued a barbed statement
that qualified praise of Mr Portman and Susan Schwab, currently deputy
trade representative and Mr Portman=92s nominated replacement, with
implied criticism about the timing of the move. =93I have very much
enjoyed working with Rob Portman and I shall be sorry to see him go from
this post,=94 Mr Mandelson said. =93We will of course manage without him,
but at this stage in the round, it would have been easier to manage with
him.=94

Privately, other EU officials were less diplomatic, suggesting that the
move sent out a clear signal that the US regarded the Doha round as
dispensable. =93On the face of it, this looks like bad news for the talks
at a time when negotiations are at a fragile point and it is bound to
lead to further uncertainty,=94 one official said. The official said that
the one bright spot could be that the US would use the change of
personnel as cover to moderate its demands for wholesale farm
liberalisation in the Doha round.

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Changes raise doubts on US commitment to Doha trade talks
By Alan Beattie
Published: April 18 2006 22:16 | Last updated: April 18 2006 22:16

Rob Portman=92s unexpected removal from the post of US trade
representative on Tuesday evoked concern among governments and trade
experts that the US was downgrading the importance of the so-called
=93Doha round=94 of World Trade Organisation talks.


Trade ministers and negotiators are struggling to meet the latest in a
series of deadlines in the talks, an end-April target for agreeing
numerical reductions in farm subsidies and farm and goods tariffs.

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, issued a barbed statement
that qualified praise of Mr Portman and Susan Schwab, currently deputy
trade representative and Mr Portman=92s nominated replacement, with
implied criticism about the timing of the move. =93I have very much
enjoyed working with Rob Portman and I shall be sorry to see him go from
this post,=94 Mr Mandelson said. =93We will of course manage without him,
but at this stage in the round, it would have been easier to manage with
him.=94

Privately, other EU officials were less diplomatic, suggesting that the
move sent out a clear signal that the US regarded the Doha round as
dispensable. =93On the face of it, this looks like bad news for the talks
at a time when negotiations are at a fragile point and it is bound to
lead to further uncertainty,=94 one official said. The official said that
the one bright spot could be that the US would use the change of
personnel as cover to moderate its demands for wholesale farm
liberalisation in the Doha round.

Mr Portman, nominated in March last year as US trade representative, was
almost perfectly qualified for the role. A Republican close to Mr Bush,
he was a congressman from Ohio, a state with both rustbelt manufacturing
and large-scale farming =96 two of America=92s traditionally sensitive
constituencies that have to be mollified for a trade deal to be agreed.

Having co-sponsored pension reform legislation in the House of
Representatives with Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, Mr Portman was
also one of the dwindling number of congressional Republicans able to
work constructively across the aisle. Cross-party support for trade
liberalisation on Capitol Hill, never particularly solid, has eroded as
partisan divides have widened.

After taking office, Mr Portman rapidly gained a good reputation among
trade ministers in the Doha round negotiations, kicking life into the
talks with an offer to make substantial cuts in American farm subsidies.

Ms Schwab has long experience in the trade field, having started her
career as an agricultural trade negotiator in the USTR before moving
first to the US embassy in Tokyo as a trade specialist and then to work
for Jack Danforth, then a Republican senator for Missouri, who chaired a
trade subcommittee in the Senate in the 1980s. She became deputy USTR in
2005 after an earlier plan to appoint her as deputy Treasury secretary
foundered during her Senate confirmation process.

Lobbyists and trade experts in Washington said that Ms Schwab was
technically very well qualified to succeed Mr Portman. But several said
that although she had good contacts on Capitol Hill, she would not enter
the job with the same political influence as her predecessor.

Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, an
industry lobby group, said: =93Susan Schwab will do a terrific job as
USTR.=94 But he added: =93Portman had a lot of clout on the Hill and Susan
will have to develop that.=94

Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union, said: =93To me it sends
a signal that things aren=92t moving as smoothly as anticipated on the
trade deal. It may be a realisation that Doha is not going to be the
success that the administration hoped it would be.=94

Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Institute for International
Economics in Washington, said that Ms Schwab was the most technically
qualified appointment at the USTR since Charlene Barshefsky, who was
appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 to replace Mickey Kantor.
But he noted that progress in trade liberalisation slowed under Ms
Barshefsky, who did not manage to renew the so-called =93fast-track=94
authority that allows the White House to negotiate trade pacts without
having them picked apart line by line by the US Congress.

Mr Hufbauer said that the timing of the move was also unfortunate. =93It
looks like a recognition from the administration that the Doha talks are
dead in the water.=94

WTO members will decide this week whether to convene a small group of
ministers and officials to assess progress in the talks next week or the
week after.

Peter Allgeier, US ambassador to the WTO in Geneva, said that Mr Portman
would remain in position as USTR until confirmed in his new post in the
White House, but said it was unclear whether Mr Portman would attend any
putative meeting of ministers over the next two weeks.

Additional reporting Frances Williams and Jeremy Grant