The death of Doha signals the demise of globalisation

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 06:29:55 -0300

As developing countries acquire a powerful voice, the US shuns multilateral trade deals because it can no longer get its own way

Martin Jacques, 13 July 2006, The Guardian

The freer movement of trade and capital has been a fundamental characteristic of the past 25 years of globalisation. The Doha round, initiated in 2001, was the latest attempt to keep the process rolling. It now looks doomed. The deadlock between the US, the EU, Japan and the developing countries seems final. And with the fast-track powers of the US president - which enable trade agreements to bypass Congress - scheduled to come to an end in 2007, any agreement later than this year will be subject to the unpredictability and delay of Capitol Hill. In other words, it is now or never, and it looks more and more like never.

The G20 Challenge

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 05:14:48 -0300

Focus on the Global South, Wednesday, 14 December 2005

In a public forum held by Focus on the Global South, senior government negotiators from India, Brazil and Indonesia, together with civil society representatives showed common concern about the status of agriculture in the WTO and the failure of pro-peasantry policies in developing countries.

More than 100 people from different organisations and movements participated in this public forum, which was moderated by Dr. Walden Bello.

But we should not hide the fact there are differences. The developing counties maintain their presence in the WTO is essential to discipline the distortion in agricultural trade but civil society maintains that the WTO should be out of agriculture since the WTO has failed to discipline distortion in agriculture and failed to get developed countries to reduce their domestic support.

G20, G90 and G33: Challenges for Building a New Politics

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 06:23:26 -0300

Adriano Campolina Soares, Terraviva, 23 January 2005

The World Trade Organisation's ministerial conferences have demonstrated a considerable willingness on the part of developing countries to build alliances among themselves as a way of countering the hegemony of the rich countries during trade negotiations.

This willingness is extremely important since the core of the WTO is dominated by North America and Europe, insofar as the bilateral agreements between the United States and the European Union – the Blair House agreements – became the basis for concluding the Uruguay Round of GATT. This terrible start resulted in trade agreements openly favourable to the rich countries. The inequalities set into the WTO agreements reflected the overwhelming power of the rich countries. However, developing countries quickly learnt that redressing the unfairness found in the trade agreements meant adopting a new negotiating posture. The United States and the European Union had to be prevented from imposing their agreements on other members; at the same time, developing countries had to build solid alliances focused on specific negotiating proposals.

Geneva Update: Doha is not Dead just yet, but what exactly has been saved?

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 05:31:57 -0300

Alexandra Strickner and Carin Smaller, TIP/IATP Geneva, 26th October 2004

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Geneva has been a busy place this year.Â In July, WTO members achieved

their main goal: saving the Doha Development Round and the multilateral

trading system.Â The run up to the July Package presented a picture of a

bruised and damaged multilateral trading system with all hopes pinned to a

successful outcome from the July General Council. The heavy hitters came in for

G20 Leaders Succumb to Divide-and-Rule Tactics: The Story behind Washington’s Triumph in Geneva

Tue, 06 Jun 2006 06:56:25 -0300

Walden Bello and Aileen Kwa, Focus on the Global South, 10 August 2004

The July Framework Document is a major triumph for the big trade superpowers, particularly the United States. As for the developing world, the situation is more complex, with most countries losing but some claiming that they have made gains. Among the few claiming to be in the win column are Brazil and India, which are acknowledged as the leaders of the G20 and two of the Five Interested Parties (FIPS) that played the leading role in drafting the agriculture text.