May 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations faces an “unbridgeable” gap and needs a new approach after a decade without striking a deal, a group of 21 Pacific ministers said.

Trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group have been the most bullish backers of the talks, calling for a speedy conclusion in annual gatherings. After two days of meetings in Big Sky, Montana, they pledged today to examine “all options” because the Geneva-based WTO failed again to reach agreement this year.

“The most important thing that came out of this conference was a more honest assessment of where we are,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said at a press conference today.

Addressing the meeting of 21 trade ministers from Asian and Latin American nations yesterday, Kirk said there were “three possible paths: keep doing what we have been doing, give up or start thinking of something different that will lead us in a better direction.” In their statement today the group endorsed the third option.

“Despite intensive engagement by officials in Geneva, the gaps remain unbridgeable, as of now, in many key areas,” the trade ministers said in their joint statement. “We must work together to develop a clear and realistic path forward that is consistent with our continuing aspiration for the successful conclusion of the Round.”

Kirk’s assessment was the most emphatic statement from President Barack Obama’s administration that the long-running talks are foundering. Outside analysts such as former U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab have called the negotiations “doomed.”

Recognizing a Problem

Six months ago at a meeting in Japan, the APEC trade ministers pledged their “unwavering determination” to the current agenda for the talks.

Kirk said in an interview yesterday that negotiators hadn’t concluded how to rework the talks, or in what way the U.S., the world’s largest economy and biggest trading nation, would push for changes. “The beginning of fixing a problem is recognizing that you have a problem,” Kirk said.

Kirk’s comments on the WTO talks contrasted with the assessment from the U.S. and eight other Pacific Rim nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement. Ministers from those nations met yesterday and said they would try to reach the “broad outlines” of a regional pact before leaders from APEC meet in Hawaii in November.

Doha Agenda

The Doha Round of talks, which began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, has three primary areas of negotiation -- agriculture, industrial goods and services.

The initial impasse emerged over agriculture subsidies in rich nations. In recent years, the U.S. and European Union demanded that India, China and Brazil reduce tariffs on industrial goods.

After the meeting today, China rejected complaints from the U.S. that it has backed away from its push a decade ago on joining the WTO to loosen restrictive market policies.

“We need Doha,” Yu Jianhua, assistant minister of Commerce, said at the press conference. “Opening up is our basic national policy and we will never change that. We cannot go without the world economy, and Doha serves the interest of China.”

Schwab, writing in the publication Foreign Affairs last month, proposed scrapping the Doha talks while continuing efforts to reduce fishing subsidies, permit duty-free entry for goods from the poorest nations and cut tariffs on environmental goods.

May 20^th, 2011

Source: Bloomberg

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