EU, US attempt Doha revival

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: "President Bush and I agreed that we now face a moment of truth if we want to make progress on the Doha trade negotiations," adding: "We risk losing all the substantial economic benefits that are on the table, it is too important to fail, we cannot fail." He also stressed the need for the US to make further concessions if the Round is to succeed: "The US holds the key to making a deal possible in 2007." 

Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson reminded players of the need to act fast: "The window of opportunity is there during the first quarter of the year. It would take some years to reopen this window if we cannot make it in this first quarter," he said. 

But he remained confident that a deal was feasible: "We came to Washington today looking for new impetus for the Doha negotiations and I believe we found it," he said. "There’s not an agreement to be announced on key issues or key numbers, but there’s certainly much greater understanding and a measure of convergence now," he explained. 

He also said that his meetings with the new Democrat leaders of the US Congress - thought by many to be more 'free-trade sceptic' - had reassured him that they would back an ambitious multilateral agreement: "They know why Doha matters for the US and for all of us economically and politically," he said. 

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab  confirmed: "We’ve had a good conversation today. We are clearly making progress. Perhaps there is some stirring of momentum here. That’s a welcome change I think from the years of start and stop that we’ve experienced with the Doha Round negotiation." 

However, she cautioned that an "artificial" March deadline would not be sufficient to gather consensus: "Nobody is going to reach an agreement on the basis of an artificial deadline if the content isn’t there that is substantively and politically viable."