The death of Doha

If you missed the headlines, World Trade Organization talks failed on Tuesday – disheartening news for free-traders like us.

The talks fell apart when the US, China and India could not agree on whether protectionist measures to defend struggling domestic products would be included in the agreement. Surely the goal here was to reduce the barriers to trade, not include new ones?

Allowing India, China and the other G33 countries to keep tariffs on agricultural imports would have been counter-productive, especially with current rising food prices. The tariffs would have encouraged this trend instead of making food and other goods more affordable for all their citizens. On the other hand, perhaps developing countries would have been more willing to bring down tariffs if the US and the EU had actually been prepared to reduce the subsidies they pay their farmers.

It's a real shame that 7 years of negotiations have amounted to nothing. But the most frustrating part is that once again governments were far too short sighted, choosing a path that would lead to popularity in the here and now, and did not consider the net benefits and long-term growth achievable through truly free trade.

End of WTO predicted
written by Dr Alister McFarquhar, July 31, 2008

I forecast the future failure of WTO circus in my blog here 22.7.03

"A large share of blame lies with the rich countries. Anxious to protect their farmers, they deny poorer countries the right to sell in their markets, and dump subsidized goods onto world markets to undercut farmers in poor countries. France takes a large share of blame, but so do Germany and America. WTO should be banging their heads together and demanding no subsidies and open markets. Instead it has become a bureaucrat's pantomime. Hope for future liberalization of trade probably owes more now to bilateral deals than to the hitherto sustainable WTO circus. "

Politics rule over efficiency see

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/sep/09/guardianletters.fairtrade?commentpage=1

Written by Cate Schafer
Thursday, 31 July 2008
If you missed the headlines, World Trade Organization talks failed on Tuesday – disheartening news for free-traders like us. The talks fell apart when the US, China and India could not agree on whether protectionist measures to defend struggling domestic products would be included in the agreement. Surely the goal here was to reduce the barriers to trade, not include new ones? Allowing India, China and the other G33 countries to keep tariffs on agricultural imports would have been counter-productive, especially with current rising food prices. The tariffs would have encouraged this trend instead of making food and other goods more affordable for all their citizens. On the other hand, perhaps developing countries would have been more willing to bring down tariffs if the US and the EU had actually been prepared to reduce the subsidies they pay their farmers. It's a real shame that 7 years of negotiations have amounted to nothing. But the most frustrating part is that once again governments were far too short sighted, choosing a path that would lead to popularity in the here and now, and did not consider the net benefits and long-term growth achievable through truly free trade. Bookmark Comments (1) Subscribe to this comment's feed End of WTO predicted written by Dr Alister McFarquhar, July 31, 2008 I forecast the future failure of WTO circus in my blog here 22.7.03 "A large share of blame lies with the rich countries. Anxious to protect their farmers, they deny poorer countries the right to sell in their markets, and dump subsidized goods onto world markets to undercut farmers in poor countries. France takes a large share of blame, but so do Germany and America. WTO should be banging their heads together and demanding no subsidies and open markets. Instead it has become a bureaucrat's pantomime. Hope for future liberalization of trade probably owes more now to bilateral deals than to the hitherto sustainable WTO circus. " Politics rule over efficiency see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/sep/09/guardianletters.fairtrade?commentpage=1 Write comment This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment. Powered by Azrul's Jom Comment for Joomla!