RS21664 -- The WTO Cancún Ministerial
November 6, 2003

	Background

The new round of trade negotiations, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), was launched at the 4th WTO Ministerial at Doha, Qatar in November 2001. Negotiations proceeded at a slow pace. In the end, the Singapore issues broke up the talks before agriculture issues were evenformally discussed. Reaction. Subsequent to the collapse of the talks, U.S. and EU negotiators criticized both the substance andtactics of the G-20+ group. (4)
The European Union has undertaken a review of its policy towards the WTO and multilateral trade negotiations. It has beenendorsed by leaders of the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) nations, including the United States, Canada and Japan. African countries refused to negotiate on this basis. Industrial Market Access.
The Cancún Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization(WTO)broke up without reaching agreementon the course of future multilateral trade negotiations. Negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda haveproceeded at a slow pace since the launch of thenew round in November 2001. The immediate cause of the collapse of talks was disagreement over launchingnegotiations on the Singapore issues, butagriculture and industrial market access issues were also sources of contention. Reaction from the United States hasbeen to focus on regional and bilateraltalks, while the European Union has undertaken a policy review of its position towards the WTO. The talks werecharacterized by the emergence of the G-20+group of developing nations that sought deep cuts in developed country agricultural subsidies. This report will notbe updated.