Mexico presents new tariff proposal, requests negotiations at WTO in Geneva
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Mexico has distanced itself from the positions of the leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20), Brazil and India, because it considers their proposals on the opening of industrial goods to be radical. Because of that, Mexico, along with seven other economies, presented a new proposal to reduce tariffs on non-agricultural products.
Mexico also asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to hold the negotiations at its headquarters in Geneva and that the work be done with the 150 member countries, instead of continuing with the current dynamic of talks by a “representative” group, the G-4 (the United States, the European Union, Brazil, and India).
Economy Secretariat (SE) sources affirmed that given the unfortunate results of the G-4 meeting held on the 21st of this month, the commitment to continue the talks multilaterally must be maintained, and they must be held in Geneva and not as they have been held to date, which is in various places.
“The success of the G-4 would have been an excellent contribution to multilateral negotiations in Geneva. Its failure represents a problem, but not the end of the talks.”
That is why the Mexican Government has asked the G-4 to show signs of flexibility in the talks, mainly in the reduction of internal support and agricultural and industrial tariffs.
And in order to find solutions, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Pakistan presented to the WTO a document that aims to bring the positions of the developed and developing nations closer together.
Particularly, a proposal was made as an alternative to the one made by the most radical developing nations, such as Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela, the sources noted.
The proposal consists of maintaining the structure of the so-called Swiss formula, which asks the rich countries to implement a greater reduction of their tariffs on industrial goods and asks the developing countries for a smaller reduction.
Filed by Maria Robson under Multilateral Trade