WTO fails to reach deal - is this the end of the Doha Round?

Time for strong political leadership from the South and North to push for a new model of trade

Ottawa (31 July 2008) - Trade talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva have broken down with many wondering if the development signals the final collapse of the so-called Doha Round of global trade negotiations.

The process ended in Geneva after nine days of negotiations by trade ministers and trade experts from more than 30 countries. It occurred when developing nations, led by China and India, refused to open their agriculture markets to imports at the level demanded by U.S. negotiators.

The Doha Round, which began in Qatar in November 2001, has been continuing off and on ever since. However, some of the most senior negotiators involved believe the current impasse may be final failure, ending the round for good.

Carin Smaller, head of the Geneva office of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, says a major division developed among WTO members on how to achieve global development.

The U.S. argued that opening markets was the best way to achieve food security and to promote individual livelihoods. India and China, supported by the majority of developing country members, argued for strong safeguards to protect food security and personal livelihoods in the event of major disruption to agricultural markets.

While China and India are receiving much of the blame from the trade negotiators from the developed nations, they were far from alone in their opposition, Smaller notes.

"This deal did not collapse over small technicalities," she said. "It was doomed to fail from the start. There is no political support for what is on the table - not from India or France or Argentina or South Africa."

Smaller says any further attempt to pursue the WTO approach is now impossible.

"Governments are no longer willing to sacrifice other concerns strictly for the sake of trade," she says. "People are on the streets rioting over food and energy prices. The business world is in a state of shock over the financial crisis. These are the problems that governments have to focus on. And the Doha Round cannot help them."

Smaller hopes the impasse will push governments around the world to adopt a more progressive approach to trade issues.

"People want global agreements to solve food insecurity, to get them out of poverty and to avoid the devastating effects of climate change. If trade can help these goals, it should be used. But the deal on the table was likely to make things worse," she adds.

"Other global institutions are better equipped to solve these new challenges. Multilateralism is more important than ever, and it has to support a diversity of approaches to allow governments to realize full employment and sustainable development. It is time for strong political leadership from the South and North to push for a new model of trade.”

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