The US could abandon world trade talks if other countries don’t show more willingness to open their markets, US Trade Representative Rob Portman was quoted as saying recently.

The US “needs to be in a position to walk away” if the negotiations fail to lead to a satisfactory agreement, Portman said at a hearing before the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
Portman said he still hoped the 149 member-countries of the World Trade Organisation would reach an agreement by the end of this year. But without more progress, the US could lose patience with the talks, he said.
“We put our best offer on the table on not just agriculture, but on (manufactured goods) and services,” Portman said. “If others do not come up with commensurate offers, at some point you may have to say that this process is not one conducive to a good result.”
Countries have set a new late April deadline to agree on a basic blueprint for reducing agricultural and industrial tariffs, They had hoped to do that at Hong Kong meeting in December, but gave up before they even arrived because of sharp disagreements over how far to cut.
House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, a California Republican, said it was hard to understand why the European Union, Japan, Brazil, India and other countries whom he said were unwilling to move in December would be any more willing in April “or by the end of 2006 for that matter.”
At some point in any negotiation that has gone on too long, “you probably have to come to the conclusion that it’s probably not the best use of USTR time and resources,” Thomas said.
The US should consider ways of “creating a new dynamic” in trade talks, such as setting a strict time limit for reaching a deal, he said. Thomas noted that bills in Congress die if they are not passed within two years.
Thomas appeared to be referring to the WTO talks as well as smaller bilateral US negotiations with Thailand, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, South Africa and others that have proved difficult to bring to a close.