TORONTO – As experts predicted that complex World Trade Organization talks could last for another 30 months or more, a Saskatchewan trade specialist suggested they are not even negotiating the proper issues.
While issues of export subsidies, import restrictions and domestic support reform are so complex that many at a conference last week on WTO talks predicted a deal might not be possible before mid-2007, Bill Kerr from the University of Saskatchewan said the real dangers to trade are not on the table.
Kerr said trade disruptions in the future will centre on consumer issues of food safety or environmental fears and governments responding to those concerns through “phony health regulations” and other restrictions on trade based on the precautionary principle.
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“Consumer issues and environmental issues are not on the table at the WTO in this round,” he said. “Even if the agreement on agriculture issues are solved, agricultural trade will be riskier in the future.”
He noted the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety rules are meant to broaden the ability of importing nations to restrict genetically modified seeds from entering the country if any safety questions are raised.
It includes the precautionary principle, which means “politics trump science,” said Kerr.
But the WTO is not organized to debate these issues and the rules governing sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations are not up for negotiation in this round.
He noted that more consumers are demanding that labour laws, environmental protection, animal welfare and other production methods be grounds for judging the appropriateness of imports.
“Many of these contentious emerging trade issues will not be dealt with for at least 15 years,” Kerr said.
