U.S. trade groups disappointed by Doha

U.S. trade groups disappointed by Doha    Eight large industry groups expressed disappointment by the failure of the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda to meet its goal to promote global economic growth by expanding trade.
   “A trade round is about opening markets and setting the rules for world trade for decades so it must address the reality that all major developed and advanced developing WTO members that have benefited from past rounds enormously have a responsibility to the world trading system to undertake significant market opening measures,' the groups said in a statement released on Monday. 'It is clear that this is not happening.'
   The groups include American Farm Bureau Federation, Business Roundtable, Coalition of Service Industries, Emergency Committee for American Trade, National Association of Manufacturers, National Foreign Trade Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Council for International Business.
   “We believe that what is currently on the table in Geneva lacks balance and ambition,' they said. 'According to the participants in the negotiations, the gaps in services, agriculture and manufactured goods appear to be unbridgeable under current circumstances. Real change in the substantive direction of the negotiations is the way the round will produce meaningful results, an objective we continue to strongly support.'
   The groups said they continue to support the WTO's work to break down trade barriers.
   'We encourage the United States and all WTO members to devote their energy to finding a productive, trade-expanding direction for the Doha Round and the multilateral trading system,' they said. 'We remain ready to contribute our ideas to such an effort.”