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EU's trade talks with China break down
Friday, March 31, 2000
BLOOMBERG NEWS
BEIJING -- The European Union and China failed today to agree on conditions for China's entry into the World Trade Organization, threatening chances of the world's most populous nation joining the trade body as hoped this year.
"We haven't reached a deal," said Anthony Gooch, spokesman for European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. "We've made progress, but we're going back to Europe."
The latest round of negotiations has centered on EU demands that China let European companies own majority stakes in Chinese phone service providers and insurance companies. Two earlier rounds of negotiations also ended without an accord.
The failure of talks with the 15-nation EU could help cement opposition to China's bid in the U.S. Congress, which is due to vote as early as May on whether to back a U.S.-China accord that was signed in November.
European companies are pushing for an agreement on China's WTO entry. Annual trade between the EU and China is worth about $60 billion.
China's November agreement with the U.S. capped foreign ownership of telecommunications and insurance ventures at 50 percent, a limit the EU has rejected. The EU is also pushing China to reduce auto tariffs to about 17 percent from the 35 percent agreed with the U.S.
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