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Is Doha at Death's Door?
Byline: Stryker McGuire
The World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade talks has seemed endangered al-most since the process began in Qatar in 2001. And never more so than now, with only a year remaining before U.S. President George W. Bush's negotiating authority runs out and the talks likely come to an end. Two weeks ago, in what some saw as a sign that Washington is losing faith in the negotiations, Bush replaced U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman with his deputy, Susan Schwab, who is thought to favor bilateral trade agreements. Last week French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde suggested it might be better to delay an agreement than sign one that has too many concessions. This week the U.S. team is flying to Geneva to resume talks. NEWSWEEK's Stryker McGuire spoke with one of the key negotiators on the other end, European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. Excerpts:
MCGUIRE: Is Doha doomed? MANDELSON: Doha is not doomed--because there is just too much to lose if it were. The economic cost of failure, the setback to the WTO and to the whole multilateral process, the resentment it would cause in developing countries--it's all too big a price. Therefore we have to press on. But I do not underestimate the difficulties.
Does that mean you might end up with a watered-down agreement? Anyone can end a trade round of this sort by diving for the lowest common denominator. If we lowered our ambition so much, that would have two effects. First, it would not give us enough on the table to strike the grand bargain that we need, and second, it probably wouldn't give some of us enough to sell [an agreement] to our domestic constituents. So we need reasonable ambition. "Reasonable" is the right word. Ambition on its own is not enough. All the key parties have to demonstrate realism as well.
As an advocate of free trade, you're said to have had trouble getting the French and other protected European economies onboard. Is that a fair assessment? That is not fair, or true. I understand why the impression has been created--because of statements from Paris--but the 25 European Union member states are remarkably united. They will pay to the furthest limit of our agricultural envelope. They expect something back on industrial-goods trade and on liberalization of services. If we don't get that, then we can't do a deal. There are no ...
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Source: HighBeam Research, Is Doha at Death's Door?