EU carmakers and unionists blast WTO non-farm deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European automakers and trade unions said on Tuesday that proposals for a world trade deal in industrial goods put the EU's manufacturing industry at risk.

"The result could be major job losses in the European Union, at the level of the manufacturers, but also in the supply chain," Peter Scherrer, General Secretary of the European Metalworkers' Federation said in a statement.

The joint statement by the union and the auto industry association ACEA came as World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva, on how to press ahead with a global trade deal, were close to collapse over proposed measures in the farm sector.

ACEA, which represents automakers such as Germany's Daimler, Italy's Fiat and France's Renault, said in its current shape the deal might force its members to channel their investment outside the EU.

"The currently discussed unfair and imbalanced trade deal would leave the EU industry no other choice than to revise its future investments to locations outside EU that are more cost efficient," said ACEA Secretary-General Ivan Hodac.

The two groups said the industrial goods chapter of the deal would allow big emerging nations like Brazil or India to keep significant protection which would harm EU manufacturers.

The proposals would allow developing countries to protect products accounting for up to 91 percent of the value of trade in a specific sector against the full impact of tariff cuts.

"Automotive peak tariffs in certain emerging markets risk to be maintained in the long term, and such markets will remain closed as the so-called flexibilities will remain in place that enable countries to exclude whole sectors from lowering tariffs," the statement said.

(Writing by Marcin Grajewski, editing by Paul Taylor)