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friday, 20 july 2001
the genoa /bonn trade-off
us and eu agree transatlantic stitch-up
on trade and climate change
On the eve of the G8 economic summit in
Genoa, Friends of the Earth warns that a
transatlantic trade and climate deal being
stitched up by U.S. Trade Rep. Robert
Zoellick and EU Trade Commissioner Pascal
Lamy could, if agreed in Genoa, be the
ultimate in lose-lose outcomes for the
world's poor and the environment. According
to latest sources, the US has agreed to
support the EU's call for a new trade round
in the WTO in order to smooth transatlantic
relationships after the US rejection of the
Kyoto Protocol (1) . Since the WTO intends to
set its agenda for the next WTO Ministerial
in Qatar before the end of July, this sudden
change in position by the US (2) is highly
significant. In addition to abandoning the
Kyoto Protocol, they will now also support
WTO trade negotiations opposed by many
Southern governments and civil society groups
around the world. This is alarming news.
Attempts to bring investment rules into the
WTO are seen by many campaigners as an
attempt to revive the OECD's failed
Multilateral Agreement on Investment which
collapsed in 1997 in the face of
unprecedented protest: "A stitch-up on trade
and climate is a nightmare scenario for
people concerned with protecting their
environment and livelihoods. When are
governments going to stop listening to big
business and start listening to the many
millions around the world calling for fair
and sustainable economies?" Alexandra Wandel
from Friends of the Earth Europe said.
Commenting on remarks made by Bush at a World
Bank meeting on Tuesday - specifically that
"those who protest free trade are no friends
of the poor" - Ronnie Hall, Trade
Co-ordinator of Friends of the Earth
International added: "Bush has got it wrong
again: it's those who promote free trade that
are 'no friends of the poor'. Who can fail to
see that Bush is propping up the interests of
transnational companies that benefit hugely
from international trade? Companies like
Exxon, for example, will be protected from
the rigours of Kyoto Protocol regulation,
whilst their government helpfully levers open
new markets for them via the WTO. The
interests of poorer people, invariably the
first to feel the costs of climate change and
economic instability, aren't on Bush's
agenda, whatever he says." (3)
For futher information see the Citizens'
Guide to Trade, Environment and
Sustainability and details of FOEI's
activities in Bonn, both of which can be
found at www.foei.org.
For additional comments, please
contact:
Ronnie Hall: +44 1243 602756
Alexandra Wandel: +32-2-542 01 85
Duncan McLaren: +44 7941 920469
Footnotes:
(1) This was announced by EU and US
officials ahead of the Group of Eight meeting
in a press conference in Washington D.C. on
17 July 2001.
(2) Pascal Lamy, EU Trade Commissioner And
Robert B. Zoellick, US Trade Representative
in the Washington Post, Tuesday, July 17,
2001; Page A17
(3) US Proposals regarding the ongoing
General Agreement on Tariffs and Services
(GATS) negotiations focus on a signficant
expansion in energy services and are intended
to bring oil drilling and exploration and the
construction of oil pipelines within the
purview of the WTO for the first time.
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