US, Singapore End Second Round of Trade Talks Without DealThe United States and Singapore on Wednesday failed to reach agreement on a proposed trade pact after a second round of negotiations and pledged to resume talks "as soon as possible" in Singapore.In a joint statement, the two sides said that they have made substantial progress on a free trade agreement, but much work remains to be done. Singapore chief negotiator Tommy Koh said in a separate statement that he was confident the incoming Bush administration will set an early date to resume negotiations. During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' informal meeting in Brunei in November last year, President Bill Clinton and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced that the two countries would begin negotiations on a free trade pact and try to reach an agreement before the end of the year. But trade officials of the two countries failed to iron out their differences after nearly three weeks of negotiations in Washington last month and agreed . The two sides reportedly differ on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and market access in service sectors such as finance, telecommunications and environmental engineering. Singapore, with a population of only four million people, is Washington's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia and 10th largest in the world. Two-way trade totaled 34.4 billion U.S. dollars last year. |
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