US manufacturers urge strong APEC stance on Doha

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) US manufacturers urged Asia-Pacific leaders yesterday to endorse a strong formula for cutting industrial tariffs to salvage a proposed world trade deal.

''The Doha Round cannot be a success without significant cuts in the real market access barriers preventing faster trade growth,'' John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in statement.

US President George W Bush and other leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are holding their annual meeting this weekend in Sydney.

They are expected to give at least a rhetorical boost to nearly six-year world trade talks by urging that negotiations enter their final phase by the end of year.

Although the United States is under pressure to offer deeper farm subsidy cuts, US manufacturers say there won't be a deal unless advanced developing countries like India, Brazil and China open their market to more foreign goods.

''They have to recognize the big gorilla is manufacturing, which accounts for 70 per cent of world trade,'' said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the manufacturing group. ''We don't want (the APEC statement) to just talk about agriculture.'' With industrial goods talks resuming next week in Geneva, APEC leaders can improve chances of a deal by endorsing a strong formula for cutting both developed and developing country industrial tariffs, the manufacturing group said.

REUTERS PBB RN0614