The agreement reached in Shanghai during a meeting of regional economic ministers this week clears the way for Washington to support Beijing's bid at a meeting of WTO members June 28. Officials released no details of the deal, but confirmed that Chinese Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick discussed farm subsidies, services such as distribution to retailers and import-export rights. If other members confirm the agreement at their meeting in Geneva, that would set the stage for China to join the WTO in time for a key meeting of trade ministers in Qatar in November. That meeting is expected to launch a new round of trade liberalization talks, following the failure of a meeting in Seattle in 1999 to agree on an agenda for negotiations.
China is eager for a seat at the negotiating table at the start of that round.
Beijing sees itself as a leader of developing nations, which complain that the United States and other industrialized countries are driving the global trade debate. Zoellick said in comments released by his office after he returned to Washington. A key sticking point had been Beijing's insistence on being treated as a developing nation, which would let it provide farm subsidies equal to 10 percent of its annual economic output. The limit for developed countries is 5 percent. Multilateral talks in Geneva on China's membership have stalled since January, largely because Washington and Beijing couldn't find common ground.