WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A nearly decade-old plan for a Western Hemisphere free trade agreement could fall apart next month because of Brazil's reluctance to negotiate in certain areas, Canadian officials said on Tuesday.
"If you take too many things off the table, then ... you unravel the whole negotiation," Canada's chief FTAA negotiator Claude Carriere said during a discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Institute.
Western Hemisphere leaders agreed in 1994 to try to craft a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement by 2005 and reaffirmed that goal shortly after President George W. Bush took office in 2001.
A trade ministers meeting next month in Miami is supposed to set the stage for the final phase of talks, but countries remain split on what areas should be covered by the pact.
The United States and Canada are pushing for a comprehensive agreement that would establish regional rules covering copyright and trademark protection, investment and government procurement in addition to reducing tariffs.
Brazil has proposed a much simpler pact aimed primarily at reducing market access barriers.
"The proposal that the Brazilians have put forward does pose some problems," Canadian Deputy Trade Minister Len Edwards said. "Certainly for Canada it's not a solution we think serves our best interests."
However, Brazil complains that United States has taken two of its priority areas -- reform of domestic farm subsidies and anti-dumping rules -- off the table in the FTAA.
Carriere said Canada agrees with the United States that domestic farm subsidies can only be addressed in World Trade Organization, but thinks there is some room to negotiate on anti-dumping rules within the FTAA.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.