World trade fell by 12 per cent last year as the economic crisis caused the biggest drop since 1945, giving new urgency to the need to conclude trade talks, WTO chief Pascal Lamy says.
The unprecedented reduction in global commerce makes it "economically imperative to conclude" international trade negotiations, which are at a standstill, in 2010, Lamy said on Wednesday.
"World trade was reduced by 12 per cent in 2009," he told the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think tank.
It was the "sharpest decline" since the end of the World War II, he said, and worse than the 10 per cent fall that the WTO had forecast in December.
The Doha Round of trade negotiations began in 2001 with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations, by aiming for a deal that would cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods.
Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed.
Discussions have been dogged by disagreements, including on how much the United States and the European Union should reduce farm aid and the extent to which developing countries such as India and China should lower tariffs.
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Isn't American trade much lower now?
ReplyDelete12.5% doesn't seem all that bad.
Wonder how all those millions of 2009 model year cars are doing sitting in those makeshift parking lots near Long Beach , CA and up in Portland as well as in Baltimore.
Saw a report somewhere that container traffic is down 30% coming into Long Beach?
Can we get some real stats on this , EA?
And yet, the stock market continues to rise and the rich are still making massive profits. How is this possible.
ReplyDeleteThe stock market is rising ????
ReplyDeleteThat's not what my 401k says - it says we were at 14,000 a year ago and at 10,300 now
that might be a lot of things; but rising ain't one of 'em
The West will have to conduct economic warfare with China, There is no way the European elite are going to permit a Chinese usurpation to its global hegemony.
ReplyDeleteExpect tariffs on China, followed by a series of currency devaluations. This will also lower many debt-to-GDP ratios.
Real estate will become far more cheaper, whereas food, transportation, energy and all manufactured goods will become more expensive due to 1) higher energy costs and 2) higher interest rates.
The rich and working class will more or less maintain their standard of living. However, the unemployed will become significantly poorer.
This the new paradigm shift in a world of Peak Oil (whether real or imagine: engineered). Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.
5:08 I have made it clear to anyone who would listen in my family that Class Wars is our real problem in the future. The middle classes will find it difficult to defend and protect the upper classes. I expect they will huddle together and hire mercenaries to protect them and their property in the not to distant future. The shift in what resembles success in this country will soon arrive. Fear no man, only God! Respect the life of all and hold it dear. Live Free or Die! Yes, You can do both!
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