WT/MIN(15)/ST/121  
25 January 2016  
(16-0508)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR MICHAEL FROMAN 
US TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 
UNITED STATES 
Let me thank our hosts, the Government of Keny a and President Kenyatta and Minister Mohamed, 
for the friendship and leadership they've shown in hosting this important event.  There's a Kenyan proverb that states, "The day before yesterday and yesterday are not the same 
as today." That captures the crossroads we have arrived at, here in Nairobi. 
 Many days before yesterday, in 2001, our governments gathered to launch the Doha Development 
Round. Then, we hoped that we would be able to  achieve a single undertaking that advanced a 
range of issues, with a partic ular focus on development. 
 
More than fourteen years later, the conviction behind Doha – that trade-driven growth can be 
inclusive growth – remains just as powerful. We know that trade can be an engine for development, helping to replace vicious cycles of economic stagnation, poverty, and ill health with 
virtuous cycles of growth, rising incomes, and healthier societies. 
 
That's why the United States has been unwilling to allow global development to wait on Doha. As Doha has drifted, we've moved forward with preference programs designed to help developing 
countries harness the power of trade. Earlier this  year, for example, we renewed the Generalized 
System of Preferences and extended an updated African Growth and Opportunity Act by a decade, 
the longest extension in that program's history. An d through the bilateral, regional, and plurilateral 
agreements we have led, we have engaged developed and developing countries alike in tearing 
down barriers and expanding trade.  In important ways, the rest of the world has move d forward as well. Hundreds of agreements have 
been signed by scores of WTO members since Doha was launched – including work on this 
continent toward regional, trilateral and continent-wide free trade areas. New rules on critical 21
st 
century issues, such as e-commerce and the digital economy, are emerging. The result is a 
growing gap – stalemate within Doha and progress outside it – which has led many to question 
whether the WTO's role in trade negotiations will long endure.  
But experience suggests that the WTO can deliver with pragmatic approaches: 
 • Two years ago, at Bali, we reached agreement on the Trade Facilitation Agreement. 
Ratification of that agreement, which would benefit developing countries even more than 
developed countries, is within reach. 
 • Three accessions this year – Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Liberia – remind us that WTO 
membership can catalyze important reforms. 
 • Progress on the Environmental Goods Agreement is also promising. 
 
• Later today, a group of Members will announce their strong support for establishing 
substantive disciplines on, and enhancing the transparency of, fisheries subsidies. 
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  • And finally, just yesterday, we reached an agreement that expands the Information 
Technology Agreement, eliminating tariffs on an  estimated $1 trillion of exports, 10 percent 
of all trade. 
 
All of this suggests that a better path forward is a new form of pragmatic multilateralism. Moving 
beyond Doha doesn’t mean leaving its unfinished business behind. Rather, it means bringing new approaches to the table. Development is too important to leave to Doha. All of us – and especially 
developing countries members – should find it unacceptable that the critical issues of Doha have 
been held hostage to an architecture that has demonstrated its incapacity to produce adequate results.  
Freeing ourselves from the strictures of the Doha framework would allow us bring new, creative 
approaches to those issues, as well as allow us to explore emerging trade issues, revitalizing the WTO and the multilateral trading system. 
 
Let's work together, starting here in Nairobi, to  move beyond the cynical repetition of positions 
designed to produce deadlock and instead have an honest, forthright discussion about what's 
doable in terms of a strong package of outcomes here in Nairobi. And let Nairobi be remembered 
as the place where we began writing a new chapter for the WTO that reflects today's economic realities. By doing so we can ensure that global  trade will drive development and prosperity as 
strongly this century as it did in the last. By remembering that Kenyan proverb's guidance, that 
yesterday is not today, we can begin to shape a better tomorrow. 
 
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