多哈回合谈判失败影响有多大

The impact of failure of Doha Round of trade talks

Six key members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) - the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil and India - decided to bring an end to the Doha Round of trade talks on July 24. It ended a two- day ministerial meeting on which six important economic players were unable to bridge their disputes and, therefore, failed to reach an agreement. But the failure to reach an agreement on farm subsidies on the part of the United States and the European Union very much eroded the confidence of the WTO members and, in turn, helped precipitate the end of the Doha agenda. Two primary factors lie behind the breakdown. First, the developed countries have employed double standards at the negotiating table. Second, the stances of developed countries on the reduction of farm subsidies are widely inconsistent owing to lobbying by domestic interest groups. In other words, the boom of bilateral trade talks stemming from the Doha Round’s bankruptcy renders it more difficult for developing countries to safeguard their interests at trade negotiations in the long term. For developing countries, which are at the bottom end of the global production chain, the bankruptcy of the Doha Round potentially means mammoth income losses. These countries, primarily farm-produce suppliers, rely heavily on trading agricultural produce for manufactured goods. Things seem to be going against them. The agricultural produce provided by the least developed countries are the least price-competitive owing, largely, to the fact that the most developed nations funnel great amounts of money into subsidizing their farm produce. This allows low-priced farm produce from developed countries to elbow out produce from lesser developed countries. Overall, the failure of the Doha Round makes the economic prospects of the developing world and the least developed countries in particular all the more gloomy.