17 Member Group in WTO Negotiation for Plurilateral Deal in Environment Goods Agreement for 200 Items

Proposals were presented both before and during the round by most of the 17 WTO members participating in the plurilateral deal, with the 28-nation EU counted as one in this context.

The chair reportedly asked EGA participants to categorise products in his “convergence list” of 350 tariff lines circulated last December into those suitable for immediate liberalisation, those where tariffs might need to be phased out over a period of years, and items deemed sensitive or unclear on how best to treat.

This convergence list is based on a universe of some 650 tariff lines covering over 2000 items nominated and discussed by EGA participants since the talks formally launched in July 2014. Possible products slated for inclusion are those relevant to cleaner and renewable energy generation, air pollution control, and energy efficiency, among other things.

Last week’s discussion focused on products identified as sensitive, with participants looking to build consensus around which items should go into the final list. Several reported constructive conversations, with differing levels of product sensitivities identified, such as those products that might prove very difficult to include and others with the potential for compromise.

This included work in small groups – one with the EU, US, Japan, and Canada and another led by Switzerland, Norway, Hong Kong, and Israel – to compare proposals. Sources also noted a continued focus on environmental credibility alongside the mercantile push-and-pull of trade negotiations.

Based on these efforts, some sources estimated that over 200 tariff lines could be included in some way in the final list without much difficulty, depending on the political landscape moving forward.

Sources speaking with BioRes gave varying forecasts for next steps. Several suggested that on a technical front the talks could be concluded this year, but much would depend on resolving some key issues.

The EGA talks hit a snag last December after participants diverged on how to interpret a negotiating mandate to “build upon” a list of 54 product categories targeted for a voluntary reduction of tariffs to five percent or less by end-2015 by the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) alliance.

“The deal makers will be the US and China,” said one source following the latest round, suggesting that the US had been pushing for a swift conclusion this year before President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017, but that recent efforts to craft a high-level political intervention on the EGA between the two trading giants had also faltered.

Some reports also suggest that Beijing has indicated that acceptance of its long-standing bid to participate in ongoing talks for a separate, plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) would facilitate the EGA negotiations, a move panned by Washington, among others.

Other outstanding areas to be resolved include addressing China’s proposals for special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing countries within the EGA and a “snap back” clause to raise tariffs if the portion of world trade in goods covered by the deal drops below a certain level.

On the former, China has suggested crafting different tariff phase out or “staging” periods for developed and developing countries, with the possibility of maintaining an indefinitely low level of tariffs on certain products for the latter group. This proposal is relatively controversial for other EGA participants.

Sources confirmed, however, that Beijing’s “snap back” clause is a major sticking point for many delegations, who are concerned that it would violate fundamental trade law principles. The EGA is being negotiated on the basis of “bound” tariffs that represent the maximum duty ceiling levels WTO members can apply, contrary to “applied” tariffs, which signify the actual duty levied at the border.