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The new U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organisation said on Monday there can be no quick fix to end deadlock in the long-running Doha Round talks on a global trade liberalisation treaty.To achieve a breakthrough, it was vital for China, India and Brazil to step up to their responsibilities as major world economic players and engage in hard negotiations in Geneva, the envoy, Michael Punke, told reporters.The three advanced developing economies must open up their economies "to the degree that is commensurate with the benefit they have gained from participating in the global economy" in the push for agreement in the nine-year-old round, Punke said.Punke said that what he called the "Big Bang" approach to achieving a breakthrough by putting ministers of the 153-member WTO together in the hope that they could produce a solution had failed in the past and would not work now."If we are going to overcome the difficulties, we have to have real negotiation. And there's no shortcut to that," declared the envoy -- whose recent arrival in Geneva had been awaited for a sign of U.S. commitment to the talks."Do I think that the negotiations that we face will be difficult? Absolutely. Do I think we can achieve success in those negotiations? Yes, if everyone is engaged," said Punke, who was approved by Congress for the key post in late March.WIDESPREAD U.S. SUPPORTThe envoy said there was widespread support across the U.S. political and business spectrum for the round, which was agreed in the capital of Qatar in November 2001 but has missed several deadlines for completion.Many U.S. trade partners say that the political climate in the United States, with unemployment still rising as the country moves out of recession, is not favourable to a trade deal."I am here with the support of my government to negotiate a Doha outcome that is balanced and ambitious," he said. "I have the full authority to negotiate, but what I hear from some of my counterparts is that they do not have that authority."Over the past nine years, progress in the round -- officially aimed at helping developing countries by boosting their share of global trade -- has stalled largely over differences between industrialised and major emerging economies.Punke made clear that his focus would be on getting China, India and Brazil in particular to open up much more to U.S. goods and services.The envoy, a trade law and policy specialist in Washington for the past two decades, indicated that the administration of President Barack Obama would be ready to adjust its aims in the round if there were progress on its priorities."In our view, it is wrong to start talking about U.S. concessions when the round is imbalanced. This issue is important not just to us but for also whether this is a successful development round," he said.And he repeated Washington's view that opening up the big emerging economies would also benefit the poorest countries.Regarding cotton, on which poorer producer countries have sought agreement by the United States to slash support for its own farmers, he said any U.S. move would depend on progress in the round's agricultural talks as a whole."We need to know, for example, if we are going to have access to China's market for cotton. If so, that created a different calculation for what we can do in terms of our domestic cotton," Punke said.The envoy rejected suggestions Washington was dragging its feet and not making its position clear on what it sought in agriculture, industrial goods and services which are at the focus of the round.Other key partners in the talks -- and particularly China, India and Brazil -- knew exactly what the United States wanted, Punke said. "I don't think there is any genuine mystery among our counterparts about what we are seeking," he added.(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Mark Heinrich)
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