The Doha Round: no possible solution as things currently stand

The breakdown of the G4 talks in Potsdam Germany has put an end to WTO hopes of giving new impetus to the Doha Round. On Thursday June 21st, the delegations from Brazil and India decided to end discussions with the United States and the European Union prematurely, considering them to be “futile”.

The four agricultural giants, who met in Potsdam, were to conclude an agreement in principle on several sensitive agricultural issues: reducing agricultural subsidies, opening up European and American markets to agricultural products from emerging countries, lowering customs barriers on industrial products at the borders of developing countries…. This agreement would subsequently extend to all the 150 WTO member states.

But once again agriculture has thrown a monkey wrench into the works of liberalization promoted by the WTO. This merely reinforces the belief that agriculture cannot be an adjustment variable for negotiations on trade liberalization.

Hopes for a positive outcome to the Doha Round after 6 years of negotiations are rapidly fading: the Trade Promotion Authority, which gives the US president the power to fast-track trade agreements, expired on June 30th, and the forthcoming American presidential elections are impeding negotiations.

After Crawford Falconer, chairperson of the agriculture negotiating committee in Geneva, cancelled the consultation meeting scheduled for June 25th, it is now essential to make the most of this “prolonged break” in negotiations in order to reconsider the role of agriculture and its implications, particularly in terms of the food sovereignty of States and in terms of development, give it a specific status, which must be granted its true value.