Brown calls for new world trade deal

A new world trade deal is needed to prove that "anti-globalisation forces of protectionism can and will be routed", Gordon Brown has argued.

The chancellor, writing in Monday's Times newspaper, suggested a "trade exchange" of business and governments to help "challenge the the current descent into protectionism".

Brown said a new alliance of political and business interests would help keep alive the spirit of the Doha round of talks, suspended in July after negotiators reached a deadlock over agricultural and industrial subsidies and tariffs.

"A 'trade exchange', reflecting the converged interests of business and government - could bring together major financial institutions, global corporations and leading public figures from rich and poor countries, and urge vital reforms, not least curbing agricultural protectionism," he wrote.

"In my view we should stake the future of our government on getting globalisation right."

And Brown said the idea could lead to a "charter for a better globalisation" to build a "new sense of international purpose".

Specifically, the chancellor said that Europe should go "considerably beyond" its initial offer of a 39 per cent cut in agricultural tariffs, while the US should go beyond a 53 per cent cut.

Brown said it was necessary to counter a growing sense in countries around the world that they are victims of globalisation, when "the ideologies that support protectionism" are "the modern equivalent of Luddism".

He wrote: "A new, potentially liberating consensus is emerging that the best way to drive globalisation is to install an engine powered by free trade, open markets, flexibility and investment that equips people to cope with the insecurities of change and fosters a better and fair deal between rich and poor countries."