美国首次公开呼吁放弃多哈回合谈判 US calls for ditching of Doha talks

The US has for the first Time publicly called for the Doha Round of global trade negotiations to be abandoned, arguing that after almost a decade and a half of fruitless discussions, developing and developed nations alike needed to recognise they were going nowhere and that it was time to try new approaches.

美国首次公开呼吁放弃多哈回合(Doha Round)全球贸易谈判，称在14年谈判未果后，发展中国家和发达国家都需要认识到它们一筹莫展，现在该尝试新的方法了。

Writing in the Financial Times ahead of the World Trade Organisation’s biennial ministerial meeting in Nairobi this week, Mike Froman, the US trade representative, said that 14 years after it was launched the Doha Round “simply has not delivered”.

在本周世界贸易组织(WTO)在内罗毕召开两年一次的部长级会议之前，美国贸易代表迈克弗罗曼(Mike Froman，上图)在英国《金融时报》撰文称，在多哈回合建立后的14年“根本没有达成任何结果”。

“We need to write a new chapter for the [WTO] that reflects today’s economic realities,” Mr Froman said. “It is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha.”

“我们需要为（WTO）谱写新的篇章，反映当今的经济现实，”弗罗曼表示，“世界该挣脱多哈的束缚了。”

The US call sets the stage for an acrimonious showdown in Nairobi this week over the future of the Doha Round and the WTO itself that is likely to overshadow a push for a smaller agreement on a narrow range of agriculture and development issues.

美国的呼声为本周各国在内罗毕就多哈回合乃至WTO自身未来展开激烈辩论奠定了基础，这可能会盖过就少数农业和发展问题达成范围较小协议的努力。

It also highlights what has become an uncomfortable paradox in the world of trade negotiations. While negotiators at the WTO have in recent years stepped up their efforts to revive the Doha Round, the belief of most people in the global business community is that it died a painful and final death in 2008 amid a stalemate over agriculture between developed and developing nations.

这还突显出全球贸易谈判领域一个令人不悦的悖论。尽管近几年WTO谈判代表加大了重启多哈回合的努力，但全球商界多数人的看法是，由于发达国家和发展中国家在农业问题上陷入僵局，多哈回合已在2008年最终痛苦消亡。

The US and others have also turned their focus in recent years to new regional negotiations such as the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership, which included the US, Japan and 10 other economies.

此外，最近几年，美国和其他国家将它们的注意力转向新的贸易谈判，例如最近达成的《跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》(Trans-Pacific Partnership)，其包括美国、日本和其他10个经济体。

Still, many in the developing world continue to cling to the Doha negotiations.

然而，很多发展中国家不愿放弃多哈回合谈判。

Countries such as Brazil, China and India and many of the WTO’s African members insist the round needs to continue, because the Doha Development Agenda, as it is formally known, includes issues of vital importance to poorer countries, such as efforts to rein in agricultural subsidies in rich economies like the US and EU.

巴西、中国和印度等国以及WTO的很多非洲成员国坚称多哈回合应继续，因为正式名称为多哈发展议程(Doha Development Agenda)的多哈谈判包括一些对较贫穷国家至关重要的问题，例如限制美国和欧盟(EU)等富裕经济体农业补贴的努力。