U.S., Other WTO Members Launch Talks On Free Trade of Environmental Goods

摘要

The U.S., European Union, China and 11 other members of the World Trade Organization have launched global negotiations on free trade of environmental goods. The negotiations, announced Jan. 24 on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will build on the September 2012 agreement among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to reduce tariffs on 54 covered goods by the end of 2015, the proponents said. Unlike the APEC agreement, in which participants agreed to reduce tariffs on covered environmental goods to 5 percent or less, proponents of the new global negotiations said their goal is to eliminate tariffs on all covered goods.