WTO ministers still worlds apart

The prospect of freeing up world trade darkened at the first meeting devoted to agricultural liberalization held in Tokyo. A draft proposal submitted by Stuart Harbinson, the chair of WTO's agricultural negotiations, calling for deeper cuts in tariffs and subsidies on farming products was opposed by a large number of countries. The US and the 17-member Cairns Group of agricultural exporters insisted that tariffs on all farm products should be reduced below 25 percent, a measure strongly opposed by Japan and the European Union .-YaleGlobal