Deputy USTR Says May Need Other Path than Doha, Services & Ag also Blocked

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization Punke issued a statement on WTO Director-General Lamy's assessment of the current deadlock in the Doha negotiations. Punke agrees with Lamy that there is a fundamental gap in expectations among key Members in non-agricultural market access (i.e. industrial tariffs) but states that services and agriculture also have fundamental differences. He said, “We need to determine - collectively - whether some branch of the current path can lead us to the finish line. If so, let’s all get to work. If not, we need to consider the viability of other pathways."