Business

Editor: Sharon Li
5 Sep 2008 08:05:49 GMT

WASHINGTON –Trade negotiators will return to Geneva next week to try to overcome disagreements in agriculture negotiations that helped lead to a breakdown in the Doha global trade talks in July, a U.S. trade official said Thursday.

Joseph Glauber, special Doha agricultural envoy for the U.S. Trade Representative, will “participate in informal meetings with other senior officials, aimed at taking stock and creating a path forward in the agriculture negotiations,” USTR spokesman Sean Spicer said.

Major world trade players, including India, China and the U.S. couldn’t come to an agreement two months ago, in part due to an impasse over a safeguard mechanism to protect against abrupt increases in agricultural imports.

Since then, however, trade officials have been working toward getting another shot at a breakthrough, over concern that the long-stalled talks could be set back for years given upcoming elections in the U.S. and other countries.

-By Tom Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275; tom.barkley@dowjones.com

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