U.S. urges emerging powers to open markets

Wed May 13, 2009 6:39am EDT
By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA, May 13 (Reuters) - Big emerging countries like China, India, Brazil and South Africa must do more to open their markets to secure a new global trade deal, the U.S. trade chief said on Wednesday.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who took up his job in March, was speaking after two days of intense talks with U.S. trade partners at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and said his reception could not have been better.
Kirk said both he and President Barack Obama were committed to reaching a deal in the WTO's long-running Doha round.
"We see it not only as a critical component of what the president believes should be an overall worldwide response to the current economic crisis, but it's also critical to the sustenance of many of our least developed countries," he said.
But he told a news conference -- in a clear message to the big emerging powers -- that a deal required more than participation by the United States.
In his talks, Kirk met representatives of more than half the WTO's 153 members, including African and Latin American countries and the European Union -- the biggest U.S. trading partner -- as well as with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy.