In 1996, Australia was forced to impose ban on beef imports from the UK and later in 2001 for countries including the US and Canada after these beef exporting nations reported cases of mad cow disease or the BSE. People could contract this disease if they consumed portions of brains or spinal cords of infected animals.

Under the new importation laws, only imports of muscle meat, or products of muscle meat, that is not infected with the BSE will be allowed into Australia. The country of origin must apply to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for permission to export beef to the region. The minimum period for the application assessment is fixed at 20 weeks, and if situation warrants, the applicant has to undergo an in-country inspection that could even delay the process beyond the normal time frame.

However, the major exporting nations such as the US and Canada do not meet the Australian stringent safety standards. But the Agriculture Minister of Australia Tony Burke said the country’s strict quarantine standards for beef and other products must not be an excuse for protectionism.

On the contrary, Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce and NSW Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan stated they would move a private bill proposing that exporting countries installed the Australian-equivalent testing regimes and traceability standards to protect citizens from eating contaminated beef. Likewise, Nationals Leader Warren Truss as well as Page Nationals candidate, Kevin Hogan voiced similar concerns over the non-labelling of the origin of beef as they felt consumers should have the option to choose what was safe for them.

According to sources, supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths have shown solidarity with the domestic beef industry by declaring that they would only sell the Australian beef. Nevertheless, a spokesman of Woolworths admitted that it would be beyond its control to identify what beef went into processed foods, such as meat pies and canned products.

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The US action comes after the EU re-introduced its export subsidy program in early this year. Many industry observers felt these moves would only trigger more protectionist measures from countries those are affected by this action. Though these declared subsidies are within the WTO limits there would be political pressure within the affected countries to retaliate and prompt them to reverse their decision.

Trade Minister Simon Crean and Agriculture Minister Tony Burke of Australia in a joint statement said that they would try to garner support from other countries to pressurize the US to reverse its decision at the Cairns Group Ministerial meeting in Bali in early next month. The Cairns Group is a coalition of 19 agricultural exporting nations which account for over 25 percent of the global agricultural exports that aims to liberalise trade in the respective sector.

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said dairy farmers the world over were under pressure, but the US move was a short-sighted response while the international dairy market had recently been showing signs of stabilising. New Zealand is the largest dairy merchandise export earner and second largest meat export earner with nearly 24 and 12 percent share respectively in total goods exported. The price advantage enjoyed by New Zealand dairy products will get diluted in the global market with the re-introduction of US handout to its dairy exports.

Nonetheless, the president of the Australian National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) David Crombie warned the US handout would only shore up domestic jobs in the short-term but undermines the possibilities of faster global economic recovery. Similarly, Fonterra, the world’s largest dairy exporter echoed the sentiments of the NFF, contending that the US decision had the potential to damage a world dairy market which remained fragile.

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The US Trade Representative Ron Kirk revealed about the stalemate on the FTA at the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the Jacob Zuma presidency. However, he claimed there was still room for growth as South Africa was by far the largest beneficiary of trade under Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). He later added that it was possible to think of a new start with the new government at the helm since the US had very good foundation in South Africa with over 600 US business investments in various sectors.

Even though the central reason for the disinterest is not spelled out by the US authorities, the possibilities to this action seemed to be the same old ones. The old demand of the US particularly the intellectual property rights, and protectionist strategy could have checkmated the deal as of now.

South Africa is one of the SACU members that has largely benefitted by the Generalised System of Preferences that allows certain products to enter the US duty-free. South African clothing and selected textile products have duty-free access to the US market through the AGOA, an initiative of the Clinton administration.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa, the US is the largest market for its merchandise. On the other hand, South Africa’s third largest imports are from the US.

South Africa’s trade analyst Peter Draper admitted that the US government’s move did not come as a surprise “for a number of reasons”. In his opinion, the failure to clinch FTA with the US is a huge blow to SACU.

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Earlier in February this year before the approval of the $787bn stimulus bill, the Senate tabled a draft which stipulated the use of the US-made iron and steel in all public-works projects, and planned to extend the same to all manufactured goods. But this was later removed from the bill as the US feared protectionism would spark off trade retaliations from its trading partners.

But the recent 5000-strong protest march with banners of ‘Buy American’ and ‘Rebuild American Manufacturing’ are bringing back the demand for stopping imports which takes the American jobs. The rally appealed to put an end to the policies of the successive governments that led to the downfall of the US economy, and for forfeiting their jobs to the foreigners.

Thousands of Indian steel pipes have found their way to the steel town of Illinois for the building of 1,600-mile Keystone Pipeline from Alberta to Oklahoma to carry oil to the US refineries from the Canadian oil fields. In 2006, when TransCanada, the energy powerhouse from Canada decided to buy 560,000 tons of large-diameter pipe the US economic problems were confined to sub-prime crisis but today it has impinged into almost all areas of the economy.

The trade union workers alleged that the US subsidies have helped the Indian and Chinese manufacturers to dump steel products for lower prices. Last week the union had filed an anti-dumping lawsuit against tubular and pipe steel imported from China. Probably, this is the first time an Indian made product being targeted for anti-dumping in the US.

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The summit happens to be the first forum after the North Korean satellite launch which has been widely criticized by Japan, South Korea and the western world as an attempt to test its ballistic prowess. As a result, many ASEAN members are concerned about the summit getting reduced to a forum for finding ways to penalise N. Korea for their action rather than meeting region’s economic problems. Earlier, despite the US and its allies headlining the Korea’s satellite launch as rocket launch and urging the UN to impose sanctions, China and Russia had called for patience.

The ASEAN summit was originally planned for last December and postponed with two phases in late February and April respectively this year due to anti-government protests that shut down Bangkok’s main international airport for several days during the scheduled period. Usually the summit is an annual gathering of representatives or leaders from ASEAN group, but the global economic crisis have compelled the group to include the economic powerhouses of the region in the forthcoming summit.

According to sources, the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd will once again appeal the participants to review his proposal in last May for an Asia-Pacific Union (APU) in the line of the EU. Rudd’s proposed APU member states account for more than half the population of the world and is worth about half the global economic output. His call is likely to have more takers this time around since the summit has plans to formally denounce any form of protectionism to tide over the current economic mess quickly.

The ASEAN leaders will make sure that the focus is on climate change, which dominated the last summit, will be followed by trade, energy, food security and disaster management. They also hope the meet will include the finer points of the recently concluded G20 Summit to aid struggling economies get out of the present economic quagmire left behind by the global financial and economic crisis.

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However, the quick response from the Obama administration indicates that they are in no mood to strain the relationship with its neighbour. It was very evident in the words of Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary while he said they did not want to create any barrier to the trade relations with Mexico especially in a time of economic crisis.

A week ago, Obama annulled the pilot programme that allowed the movement of some Mexican long-haul rigs or trucks through the US roads. Under NAFTA, in force since 1994, the Mexican trucks should be permitted to ply up to the north of the border as early as January 2000. But the Mexican vehicles are widely blamed for not complying with the safety standards of the US and also eating into the US truckers’ jobs.

Subsequently, Mateos rebutted the argument by stating that the Mexican trucks never violated safety norms despite there were about 46000 crossings during the 18 month old pilot programme as no noticeable accidents were being reported. Nonetheless, he further added that Mexico was open to talks and expressed confidence in resolving the issue soon.

It has been learned that Obama has instructed his officials concerned to have talks with Mexican officials to arrive at a solution as early as possible. The new tariff is likely to affect $2.4bn worth of American agricultural and industrial products from 40 states.

Nevertheless, the re-permission to the Mexican trucks are likely invite the ire of labour unions who gave support to Obama in the 2008 presidential election on a promise that NAFTA will be re-negotiated and modified to preserve the US jobs. The US is estimated to have spent $500mn for the pilot programme since its inception.

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But today international trade is at the cross roads, beset with varied issues, including climate change, ever rising prices of essential commodities and energy, etc. And for all the ills emanated from globalization, World Trade Organization (WTO) is pilloried by most critics, as usual without providing viable solution. WTO was persistently blamed for its failure to make suitable changes to the needs of the times. WTO policies delved deep into politically sensitive domestic regulations and delayed the process of striking an early inevitable solution. It has had to withstand the pressures of different internal government differences, protectionism and even, anti-market NGO’s. The initial carrots offered by developed nations, during the early stages of globalization, turned out to be a steroid treatment for rabbit economies which transformed themselves into predators, which gradually devoured the lion share of the market pie. In the process WTO was left high and dry, clueless about its road ahead.

Before losing its core competency, WTO should wake up to the challenges of 21st century to live up to the expectations of its very existence. It has to accept that lopsided trade agreements have no place in the world today since every country can afford and has the intelligence to rope in expert international negotiators for favorable trade agreements. If it could provide ample scope for domestic products and services, to equally succeed in the world business arena, the organization will be able to fulfill its goal.

Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) or any such are still designed for developed economies, flouting the laws of level playing field. Such deals should address the needs in a partner-specific manner and there by should facilitate the interests of both parties evenly. The pacts signed in a hurry, in future, may have to spend years in courts for implementation, due to domestically ever changing political scenario and other unexpected issues. Accords with complex and discriminatory regulations cannot expedite the process of implementation in present circumstances. Besides, red tapism and high gestational business costs also could be prevented, if proper care is given while signing deals. Businesses engaged in global supply chain, need simple, transparent and non-discriminatory models to derive the best out of tailored pacts.

At this juncture, WTO is with grievous limitations, if repair measures are not made quickly, perhaps it will lose its relevance. Most of the developing countries of Asia and South America have already latched on to the unilateral liberalization programs. China, the unilateral engine of free trade has started this way back in 1990 before joining WTO. Other East and South Asian nations are engaged in replicating China model to supersede the international institution to gain larger clout, and for doing more business. It is high time for a trade policy to be less of a foreign policy, and it should be solely the one which is attached within the framework of domestic economic needs. Therefore, the global trade body must give utmost care to address these needs in subsequent rounds of negotiations to avoid unnecessary stalemate.

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