The future relevance of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is at stake as ministers prepare for next month's Doha Round meeting of trade negotiations in Hong Kong. The organization has been continually bogged down by criticism and dispute over the course of this round, and the run up to this conference has been no different.
The early stages of brinkmanship from participating countries have already begun. The United States has been lobbing insults at Europe while lesser developed countries have been barking at their industrialized counterparts. With each new complaint, the possibility of legitimate progress dwindles as the meeting date approaches. Making progress in Hong Kong is crucial because the WTO has set the end of next year as a deadline for concluding the Doha Round. President Bush's fast track authority, permitting him to negotiate trade agreements without congressional approval, is scheduled to expire in mid-2007. With Congress in an increasingly protectionist mood, it is unlikely any progress can be made if the countries miss this deadline.
The most hotly disputed subject is once again agricultural subsidies. These barriers to trade unfairly distort market prices, preventing competition from low cost producers in developing countries. Europe and the United States have a repeated history of fighting voraciously for a sector which represents only two percent of their collective wealth and employment. The majority of the international community has turned on France, who is aggressively lobbying against lowering farm tariffs.
Though agricultural politics have always been a fierce battleground for Europeans - who consistently argue over subsidies inside the EU - there is no need for Brussels' politics in the Doha Round. It is na??¶? for France to claim they have already lowered tariffs enough. Members of all the major industrial countries are falling into a fallacy of zero sum games. While negotiations may be a process of give and take, the ultimate purpose of international trade is to obtain a mutually beneficial outcome. Members - in both developing and industrial countries - can benefit from a world wide reduction in tariffs.
As governments scale back both demands and expectations for the Doha Round, the unacceptably high tariff and subsidy levels are likely to remain. It is disappointing to see this round fade away before it has even started. Despite clear evidence that a reduction in actual tariffs would be beneficial, it seems likely that only the ceiling for tariffs will be lowered at the conference, and broad reforms will be put off yet again. With developed countries setting a poor example for less developed countries, it is unlikely the latter will reciprocate by reducing their own barriers to trade.
Only through increased trade and access to global markets can developing countries achieve an adequate standard of living. Industrialized countries must take up the lead, and sacrifice a few thousand jobs in declining industries in order to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
The infighting that has characterized previous meetings of this round, and the talks leading up to Hong Kong will produce no results. It is both counterproductive and redundant. For the true mission of the WTO to be accomplished, members must take every meeting opportunity available to aggressively fight barriers to free trade.
While an aggressive agenda may have doomed the Hong Kong meeting to lie in history books next to disasters such as the 1999 Seattle meeting, it is imperative officials not be so conservative that they achieve nothing.
