GENEVA : Talking Trade

Negotiators from most of the 108 countries participating in the Uruguay Round of international trade talks will meet in Switzerland today with little hope for quick progress. Arthur Dunkel, president of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, under whose auspices the talks have been proceeding for more than six years, will deliver a statement assessing progress--or lack of it--to date and urging the negotiators not to give up.

However, serious negotiations will now have to wait until Mickey Kantor, the Clinton Administration’s chief trade negotiator, can review what has happened so far and decide whether to change any of the Bush Administration’s trade policies.