China, others link SOE, industrial reform priorities to WTO ag talks

摘要

GENEVA - Some World Trade Organization members - including China - are linking progress on reforms in areas like stale-owned enterprises, industrial subsidies and forced technology transfer to talks on agricultural subsidies, which have long been deadlocked at the WTO, according to Geneva sources. The United States, the European Union and Japan have been working trilaterally to develop new rules to address SOEs, industrial subsidies and forced technology transfers and could come forward with concrete ideas early next year, sources said. But efforts to gain a consensus or reach a critical mass of members needed to move forward with new provisions plurilaterally could be hampered by a link to one of the WTO's most contentious negotiating areas.