WTO fails to reach Environmental Goods Agreement

The World Trade Organization made progress this past weekend toward creating an agreement liberalizing trade of environmental goods, but sticking points kept negotiations from reaching a conclusion, the global trade body said in a statement.    The World Trade Organization (WTO) made progress this past weekend toward creating an agreement liberalizing trade of environmental goods, but sticking points kept negotiations from reaching a conclusion, the global trade body said in a statement.
   “This is not the usual kind of trade agreement as it is focused on protecting a common global good: the environment,” WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo said. “The trading system should be in a position to make a positive and meaningful contribution towards tackling environmental degradation.”
   The 18 participants representing 46 WTO members at the EGA meeting provide most of the global trade in environmental goods, the WTO noted. Since January 2014, the agreement’s negotiators have sought to eliminate or reduce duties on products used in a variety of environmental-related activities, such as renewable energy and pollution reduction activities.
    The EGA participants include Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the European Union members, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States.
   “I believe that all delegations involved in these discussions remain committed to this, and to building on recent achievements such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda,” Azevedo said, adding that negotiations at the WTO for the EGA agreement will continue.