Nath blames rich nations for trade mess
Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath on Thursday lashed out at the developed countries for trying to perpetuate distortions in world trade.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath on Thursday lashed out at the developed countries for trying to perpetuate distortions in world trade. Strategies adopted at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) ongoing Doha Round are aimed at this goal, he claimed. If the European Union wished to characterise India as an emerging economy, the developed countries such as the US and the European countries should be classified as ‘submerging’ economies, he quipped during the India-EU summit.
The minister said the Doha Round was supposed to be a development round where India was just going to negotiate trade issues and not subsistence.
Taking a dig at both the EU and the US on Thursday, Mr Nath urged EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to ask “your friends in the US” to lower their trade-distorting subsidies by just $1. “I have already told the US that if they commit on lowering their subsidies by just $1, the deal is acceptable to us. But I have not got any response so far,” he said.
The commerce minister said distortions in the global trading system had to be addressed as the ongoing WTO round was not about perpetuating these distortions.
He added that the high tariffs on finished products such as jackets and coats and the relatively low tariffs on raw materials should be corrected.
Addressing Mr Mandelson directly, the minister said India had unilaterally brought down its tariffs substantially over the last few years, but the developed countries were not ready to acknowledge it. “You have pocketed whatever tariff reductions we have made unilaterally and you are pressuring us to make cuts over and above what we have already done,” the minister said.
Mr Nath said there were millions of subsistence farmers in India whose interests had to be protected at all costs. “While we are ready to negotiate trade, we cannot negotiate subsistence,” he said.
The minister said the Doha Round was supposed to be a development round where India was just going to negotiate trade issues and not subsistence.
Taking a dig at both the EU and the US on Thursday, Mr Nath urged EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to ask “your friends in the US” to lower their trade-distorting subsidies by just $1. “I have already told the US that if they commit on lowering their subsidies by just $1, the deal is acceptable to us. But I have not got any response so far,” he said.
The commerce minister said distortions in the global trading system had to be addressed as the ongoing WTO round was not about perpetuating these distortions.
He added that the high tariffs on finished products such as jackets and coats and the relatively low tariffs on raw materials should be corrected.
Addressing Mr Mandelson directly, the minister said India had unilaterally brought down its tariffs substantially over the last few years, but the developed countries were not ready to acknowledge it. “You have pocketed whatever tariff reductions we have made unilaterally and you are pressuring us to make cuts over and above what we have already done,” the minister said.
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Mr Nath said there were millions of subsistence farmers in India whose interests had to be protected at all costs. “While we are ready to negotiate trade, we cannot negotiate subsistence,” he said.
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