Australia raised concerns today that a world trade deal could be watered down and fail to do enough to free up international trade, with many countries building secondary barriers to protect domestic industries.
Trade Minister Warren Truss, who has championed more open world markets, particularly for agriculture, said he was concerned the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks might not deliver long hoped-for benefits.
"My concern has been over recent weeks that there has been some kind of retreat to lowest common denominators," Truss said, adding some countries were offering tariff cuts where there would be no trade, or were building long lists of special exemptions.
"My concern is that the agreement will not meet Australia's test of ambition and our desire to have a comprehensive breakthrough, which delivers much more extensive and freer trade around the world."
The Doha round, launched nearly six years ago, stalled in 2006 on the issue of agricultural trade, with the European Union and the United States blaming each other for not offering deep enough cuts in tariffs and farm subsidies. Major developing nations, led by India and Brazil, are also being urged to open their markets to more agricultural and industrial goods.
The Doha round was billed as a once-in-a-generation chance to inject up to $300 billion a year into the world economy and raise millions of people out of poverty. WTO head Pascal Lamy was upbeat on Sunday about an agreement by the end of the year, but a group of 20 major developing countries said they would not accept a pact that did not help their farmers.
Mr Truss, who chairs the Cairns group of farm exporting nations, said he remained optimistic about a WTO agreement, but a deal should also deliver real benefits to world trade. "There should not be a rush to achieve an agreement just for an agreement's sake," he told reporters at Australia's National Press Club. "(But) If we are delivered in the end an agreement of modest quality but which makes some advances, it may be difficult to turn that down," Mr Truss said.