Global leaders had a simple message for the world today: Keep trading.

Global leaders had a simple message for the world today: Keep trading.

A DECISION to abandon attempts to restart the world trade talks in Geneva will be welcomed in Ireland.

A MEETING of world trade ministers in Geneva to agree an outline deal in global trade talks has been postponed.

SPECULATION is growing in Geneva that another bid is to be made before the end of the year to reach a global trade deal.

SPECULATION is growing in Geneva that another bid is to be made before the end of the year to reach a global trade deal.

WORLD Trade Organisation mediators circulated new negotiating texts on Thursday that will serve as the blueprint for an outline deal in the WTO’s long-running Doha round, trade officials said.

THE current round of world trade talks in Geneva, which pose a major threat to farming and agri business in Ireland, look set for an end game.

Negotiations to conclude the Doha round of global trade talks are again under way, and a breakthrough may be made in the coming months, World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said in the Philippines today.

A meeting of the world’s top commercial powers yielded only a vague pledge of commitment to global trade liberalisation efforts today – a disappointment after business and political leaders called for progress in the World Trade Organisation talks.

World Trade Organisation members have shelved more than five years of free trade talks as differences over farm aid proved unbridgeable.

Global commerce talks at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva collapsed today as top powers failed to agree on steps towards liberalising trade in farm and manufactured goods.

Global commerce talks at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva appeared on the brink of collapse today as top powers stumbled in attempts to agree on steps towards liberalising trade in farm and manufactured goods.

THE reform of the European Union sugar regime led to an exchange between World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy and former Food Minister Ned O’Keeffe at an OECD globalisation forum in Paris.

About 4,000 anti-globalisation activists – some carrying a giant spider and others wheeling along statues of emaciated people – marched today in the first mass protest against the World Trade Organisation’s summit in Hong Kong.

FIVE of the biggest players in the world trade talks - the United States, the European Union, Brazil, India and Japan - will meet in London today.

With just two months remaining before a deadline for a framework global trade treaty, ministers from the largest trade powers will gather today to tackle once more the thorny issue of US and EU farm subsidies.

Ministers from the largest trade powers gather in Switzerland tomorrow to tackle once more the thorny issue of US and EU farm subsidies, with just two months remaining before a deadline for a framework global trade treaty.

Pascal Lamy stepped into office as the new head of the World Trade Organisation, pledging to re-energise negotiations ahead of the crucial global trade summit in Hong Kong just three months away.

The World Trade Organisation appointed former EU trade chief Pascal Lamy of France as its new director-general today.

Pascal Lamy has defended his support for agricultural subsidies for European farmers, but said the post he won yesterday to head the World Trade Organisation will force him to think differently.

Negotiations on the next leader of the World Trade Organisation have ended, and a decision is expected to be made public late today, trade officials said.

Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay said today he was withdrawing from the race to lead the World Trade Organisation, leaving Pascal Lamy of France poised to become the new director-general.

The race to lead the World Trade Organisation has narrowed to two candidates - Pascal Lamy of France and Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay, a key mediator said yesterday.

The EU is to lift millions of pounds in punitive tariffs on US goods after Washington repealed corporate tax breaks that were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation.

THE US and the EU started a multi-billion euro transatlantic trade war yesterday, alleging unfair subsidies for Europe’s Airbus and America’s Boeing, two aviation industry giants.

The US and the EU set up multi billion pound transatlantic trade war today alleging unfair subsidies for Europe’s Airbus and America’s Boeing, two aviation industry giants.

The World Trade Organisation today authorised the EU and other leading US trade partners to impose sanctions against the United States in response to illegal antidumping rules.

A group of demonstrators has gathered to protest against the presence of EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy at a meeting of the European Commission in Dublin Castle today.

The EU will rapidly impose economic sanctions on the US if it receives a favourable ruling next week in a bitter trade dispute involving steel, Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said today.

THE European Commission yesterday gave the United States an autumn deadline to change disputed tax break laws for major corporations or face the threat of up to $4.0 billion in sanctions.

The EU today gave Washington until the end of the year to stop illegal tax breaks for exporters or face the biggest sanction bill ever in a trade dispute: up to €3.5bn.

A World Trade Organisation panel has ruled illegal the US Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, the so-called Byrd amendment, EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said.

Plans for tit-for-tat trade sanctions against the US have been put on hold by the European Union amid signs of a breakthrough in a row over steel.

Sanctions could be imposed on the US if it does not comply with World Trade Organisation rulings on the current row over steel tariffs, European Union trade commissioner Pascal Lamy warned today.

Marathon negotiations produced a compromise on agriculture that may keep the EU from sinking the World Trade Organisation summit, but India’s refusal to budge on key issues kept a deal tantalisingly out of reach today.