Background
on NAMA
World
exports of non-agricultural goods totaled $8.6 trillion in 2004, accounting for
over 90% of total world merchandise exports. Merchandise trade is growing rapidly, up
48% since the Doha Round began in 2001.
Developing countries are sharing in that growth, in fact increasing their
share of world merchandise trade to 31% in 2004, the highest level since
1950.
Improving
market access across agriculture, manufacturing and services is the most
effective way to unleash the potential of the Doha
negotiations for development. The
NAMA negotiations aim to remove barriers to trade in industrial and consumer
goods.
Results from Hong
Kong
The
NAMA text coming out of Hong
Kong
locks in progress since the July 2004 Framework and tops-up that progress in a
few key areas. The text also
reaffirms the key role of liberalizing sectoral tariffs and reducing non-tariff
barriers to trade.
In
Hong
Kong,
Members reaffirmed the goal of reducing or eliminating tariff peaks, high
tariffs and tariff escalation.
Members agreed that this should be achieved partly through a harmonizing
(Swiss) tariff cutting formula. The
exact structure and details of the formula will be worked out in tandem with
market access solutions in agriculture.
The United
States
seeks to level the playing field for U.S.
businesses. Average WTO-legal
U.S.
industrial tariffs are 3.2% as compared with 30.8% for all WTO
Members.
Work
on sectoral tariff liberalization has gained momentum over the past year. WTO Members are pursuing sectoral
discussions in a variety of global industries that represent key economic
building blocks. The discussions
have increasingly involved a mixture of developed and developing countries from
every trading region. This creates
a solid platform for interested Members to negotiate the specifics in 2006.
Negotiators
provided a boost to the important efforts to reduce or eliminate non-tariff
barriers by recognizing the work accomplished to date and calling for
introduction of detailed negotiating proposals early in the new year. This sets the stage for the
United
States and
other governments to address the variety of NTBs that impede market access for
global industries such as automobiles, electronics and wood products, barriers
that often are as damaging and more trade- distorting than the remaining
tariffs. It also opens up the door
to push for agreement on new horizontal rules to free up trade in remanufactured
goods.
For
reference, world exports of non-agricultural goods totaled $8.6 trillion in
2004, accounting for over 90% of total world merchandise exports. Merchandise trade is growing rapidly, up
48% since the Doha Round began in 2001.
Developing countries are sharing in that growth, in fact increasing their
share of world merchandise trade to 31% in 2004, the highest level since
1950.
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