WTO-SPECIAL: EU Takes Offensive at Trade Talks

The European Union, under pressure to offer greater cuts in its farm subsidies at global trade talks here, has challenged its counterparts on a number of issues from food aid to tariffs to support for state-run commodity cartels. And the strategy is working.

WTO-SPECIAL: Developing Nations Push Back

Once downtrodden at international meetings, developing countries, led by India and Brazil, are showing renewed assertiveness in the face of pressure from industrialised nations that are lobbying to open new markets at a global trade meeting here.

WTO-SPECIAL: US, EU Spar Over Food Aid, Subsidies Sidelined

The second day of global talks to liberalise trade among nearly 150 nations devolved into a row between the United States and Europe over U.S. food aid to poor nations, amid European accusations that Washington's programme is a farm subsidy disguised in a humanitarian cloak.

WTO-SPECIAL: More Aid-for-Trade Carrots Offered Poor Nations

Rich nations are talking about a fresh trade package for the world's poorest countries as a way out of the shaky World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, now underway here.

WTO-SPECIAL: Stalled Talks Get Underway

A high-profile meeting that seeks to knock down global trade barriers for international businesses started here Tuesday, amid tensions between developing and industrialised countries over the lavish support that rich nations give their farmers, while demanding that developing countries further open up their markets to goods and services.

WTO-SPECIAL: New Talks, Same (Empty) Promises?

Groups advocating fair global trade say next week's World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong will not help lift up poor people in developing nations, as has been promised by officials in industrialised nations and their allies at international financial institutions.

CHAD: World Bank’s Model Oil Deal on the Line

The World Bank said Monday that it is considering retaliatory measures against the government of Chad if the Central African nation enacts changes to a legal agreement governing its oil wealth.

TRADE-US: Groups Declare War on Cheap Chinese Exports

The decision by the George W. Bush administration Monday not to name China as a "currency manipulator" has disappointed industry and labour groups here, which say they will resort to international institutions and the U.S. Congress for tougher action.

DEVELOPMENT: Iraq Warned Against “Straitjacket” Oil Deals

Oil exploration deals currently being negotiated between the Washington-backed Iraqi government and multinational oil companies could cost Iraqis up to 194 billion dollars in lost revenues and transfer more than two-thirds of the country's oil reserves to the control of foreign firms, a new report warns.

TRADE: Labour and Farm Issues Dent Andean Trade Deal

Labour, environmental and public health groups, along with some U.S. legislators, are warning the George W. Bush administration to quit new free trade talks with Andean countries or face another bitter battle in Congress.

TRADE: Bush to Nudge Asians on Stalled Talks

When U.S. President George W. Bush meets Asian leaders on Friday and Saturday, he will discuss the threats of avian flu, terrorism and North Korea's nuclear capabilities, but stalled global trade talks are likely to take centre-stage.

TRADE: US Cotton Offer Skirts “Dumping” Controversy

The United States has offered poor African countries a seven-million-dollar plan to boost their cotton sales and limit the damage done to their farmers by U.S. cotton subsidies.

POLITICS-US: China Commission Urges Punitive Action

China's growing political, military and economic strength poses a serious threat to U.S. national security and its economic and technological leadership, an influential Congressional group argues in a new report.

CORRUPTION: “Big Oil” Gets Grilled on Capitol Hill

Some of the world's top oil executives denied accusations Wednesday that they were engaged in "price gouging" in the United States, and even called for more incentives for the industry.

TRADE: China Cedes to U.S. Textile Demands

The United States and China reached a broad deal Tuesday that would regulate their textile trade through 2008, after Washington complained of surging Chinese imports, officials from both nations said.

TRADE: Business Groups Lobby to Resurrect FTAA

Dozens of business groups from throughout the Americas are urging regional governments to adopt economic and trade reforms to give a boost to upcoming World Trade Organisation talks and a stalled regional free trade agreement.

TRADE: IMF and Bank Press for Cut in Farm Subsidies

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have joined forces to call for a cut in global agricultural subsidies and push for successful global trade talks at the already stalled World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in December.

TRADE: US Farm Offer Leaves Trade System Intact

A U.S. proposal to cut agriculture tariffs and subsidies and set new trade rules at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would do little to change the current system of global agriculture trade and preserves exceptions from the global rules that U.S. farmers enjoy, according to a leading U.S. think tank.

MIGRATION: Is There an Upside to the “Brain Drain”?

Some of the world's smallest and poorest nations have lost an astonishing 89 percent of their skilled workers to richer countries, but may still gain financially from foreign remittances, the World Bank said Tuesday.

TRADE: US Badgers China Over Mounting Deficit

The United States stepped up pressure on China Monday to adopt broad economic changes in a bid to slow Beijing's huge trade surplus.

IRAQ: Two Years Later, U.S. Still Can’t Keep the Lights On

The reconstruction of Iraq is failing rapidly despite repeated claims of progress by the George W. Bush administration, according to a number of U.S. officials and reports released here this week.