The World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle have broken up without agreement on further moves towards liberalising trade. The four days of talks had been marked by disputes and surrounded by violent protests.
Differences over agricultural subsidies, in particular, proved impossible to overcome. European Union ministers were opposed to eliminating export subsidies. The United States and a group of food exporting countries want all subsidies abolished.
Minister of State, Tom Kitt, who was in Seattle for the talks said he was disappointed at the lost opportunity for the greater liberalisation of world trade. But he said certain aspects of the package on offer, including in relation to agriculture, were not acceptable to Ireland or the EU. The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, also expressed disappointment.
Reacting to the collapse of the talks, the IFA president, Tom Parlon, said what he called an attack on the European family farm structure had failed. He warned that continuing pressure from the United States and other non-EU food producing countries must be resisted.
