U.S., EU Try Cooperation on Trade Round

July 19, 2001

The United States and the European Union are cooperating to help launch a new round of global trade negotiations this November. "Continued trade liberalization is essential to promoting global economic growth and alleviating poverty – two themes of the G-7 Summit that the President will attend in Genoa this weekend," U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick said.

"The United States and the European Union share a common strategic objective: launching a new trade round," said Zoellick. "The clouds of the failure in Seattle left supporters of trade and development dispirited. We have a responsibility to see that a rules-based trading system as embodied in the World Trade Organization is strengthened, expanded, and deepened. But the U.S. and the EU can only do so much to ensure success. We need the active participation and leadership of other partners, particularly in the developing world."

Zoellick noted that the United States and the European Union have a "high degree of convergence" on issues such as market access negotiations for non-agricultural products and transparency in government procurement, and in areas such as services, trade facilitation, and strengthening the WTO system. The U.S. and EU also are working cooperatively with the World Bank on how it can further support trade capacity building efforts that will benefit developing nations. Zoellick and the EU's commissioner for trade, Pascal Lamy, met Wednesday with James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, to discuss trade capacity issues.

"Trade is an important component of the President's growth agenda, at home and abroad. A new Round can bring real benefits to American workers, farmers, businesses, and families," said Zoellick.