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bemildred

(90,061 posts)
Thu Jul 31, 2014, 11:45 AM Jul 2014

U.S. says hopeful of WTO deal with India only hours before deadline

(Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it was hopeful that differences between India and much of the rest of the world over a major trade agreement could be resolved in time, with only hours remaining before the deal has to be signed.

New Delhi has insisted that, in exchange for signing the trade facilitation agreement, it must see more progress on a parallel pact giving it more freedom to subsidize and stockpile food grains than is allowed by World Trade Organization rules.

Diplomats have been taken aback by India's threat to veto trade facilitation, a deal that aims to speed trade by standardizing customs rules and slashing red-tape.

The WTO deal must be signed in Geneva on Thursday, and India's ultimatum has revived doubts about the future of the WTO as a negotiating body.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/us-india-trade-wto-idUSKBN0G009R20140731

Damn shame, eh?

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