WTO: Efforts to resolve trade impasse - timeline
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Timeline
- July 2007 WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, says recent meetings pointed to a “high level of commitment to concluding the [Doha] Round”. He noted “some significant differences” but that “convergence is within our reach.”
- June 2007 Meeting in Potsdam, Germany, fails to achieve breakthrough on trade issues including subsidies to agriculture.
- April 2007 Negotiators from the Group of Six--Australia, Brazil, the EU, India, Japan, and the USA meet in New Delhi to relaunch stalled WTO Doha round.
- November 2006 Vietnam invited to join WTO; Lamy says progress on stalled talks can be made only through concessions on agriculture.
- July 2006 Attempts to relaunch the Doha Round fail, over the issues of US agricultural subsidies, EU agricultural import tariffs, and developing-country import tariffs.
- January 2006 Negotiators from the Group of Six fail to revive talks aimed at a trade treaty. EU and US negotiators said the other had not sufficiently reduced agricultural protectionism.
- December 2005 A key meeting in Hong Kong in fails to make a breakthrough.
- November 2005 At the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum meeting in Pusan, South Korea, the US, Australia and New Zealand criticize EU for its unwillingness to cut agricultural subsidies.
- May 2005 EU-US dispute over subsidies to jet liner manufacturers Airbus and Boeing break down after US lodges formal complaint to WTO.
- September 2003 Group of 21 developing countries, who had complained that in past meetings they were excluded from decision making, scuttle a trade liberalization meeting in Cancún, Mexico.
- August 2003 A new block of developing countries, led by Brazil, India and China, changes the dynamic of the talks by demanding radical cuts in agricultural subsidies by developed nations.
- September 2001 WTO launches the Doha round. France objects to agenda item calling for “elimination” of agricultural subsidies.
- December 1999 Trade liberalization talks in Seattle fail after massive demonstrations against global capitalism are repressed by police.
- January 1995 WTO inaugurated as successor organization to GATT
- December 1993 The Uruguay Round concluded with a signed agreement, leading to the reduction of 123 tariffs, reinforcing intellectual property rights, liberalizing access for textiles and clothing from developing countries and creating the WTO.
- November 1993 132 Republicans and 102 Democrats in the US House of Representatives (bi-cameral legislature) vote to approve on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), supported by a minority of the Democratic Party.
- March 1992 Uruguay round deadlocked over agricultural exports and farm subsidies; situation is aggravated by US proposal to exempt its key service sectors from freer trade rules.
- January 1992 European refuses to compromise on farm subsidies at GATT talks in Geneva. European negotiators insist on classifying subsidies under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as permitted under GATT rules. US President George Bush accuses the EU of hiding behind an “iron curtain” of agricultural protectionism.
- December 1990 Uruguay round global trade talks collapse in Brussels as US rejects EU compromise on agricultural subsidies.
- January 1989 The US imposes $100 million of countervailing duties on European imports in retaliation for EU ban on hormone-treated beef from the US. This seals the fate of trade talks in Montreal.
- December 1988 A mid-term review of the Uruguay Round focuses on persuading developing nations to agree to new rules protecting intellectual property rights
- March 1987 Negotiators from GATT member countries set out objectives for Uruguay Round
- January 1987: Representatives of nearly 100 industrial and developing nations start trade-freeing negotiations in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
- April 1979 The Tokyo Round of trade liberalization talks conclude, paving the way for reductions on 102 Tariffs, non-tariff measures also agreed on.
- September 1973 A ministerial meeting launches Tokyo Round of tariff cutting and trade liberalization.
- August 1971 US ends convertibility of the US dollar, allowing other currencies to float.
- February 1970. Implementation of supplemental agreements on chemicals and motors are delayed for one year.
- May 1967 The Kennedy Round of trade negotiations conclude. Negotiators from some 50 non-Communist countries agreed to cut their tariffs by an average 35% by 1972. The agreement includes reductions on 62 tariffs, and puts into place new anti-dumping rules.
- June 1964 Ministers of EFTA nations reach agreement on a common negotiating position for the Kennedy round of tariff discussions. European Community negotiators call for “harmonization” of tariff rates, and the US calls for straight, across the board cuts on all goods.
- June 1962 Dillon Round cuts tariffs $4.9 billion of world trade tariffs on items in which the EEC and the U.S. control 80% of world trade.
- May 1960 Non-EEC European trade officials from seven countries set up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
- March 1957 The European Economic Community (EEC) is established by the Treaty of Rome. Charter members are Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
- June 1955 A month-long deadlock between US House and Senate conferees over the Administration's Reciprocal Trade Bill (H. R. 1) is finally broken.
- October 1953 British Conservative government asserts right to maintain Commonwealth preferences and to maintain a protectionist stance where necessary.
- September 1950 Torquay Round results in the lowering of 38 tariffs, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%
- April 1949 Thirteen nations reach tariff agreements in talks that began in Annecy, France.
- March 1948 U.N. Conference on Trade in Havana results in an International Trade Organization, or ITO, to join the World Bank International Monetary Fund.
- October 1947 First General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland, to reduce tariffs on about one-fifth of the world's trade.
- July 1944 United Nations monetary and financial conference at Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) Conference, at which agreements are signed to set up the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the International Monetary Fund.
- February 1932 Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain proposes a general tariff on imports as a means of generating income and redressing the nation’s trade imbalance
