Larvatus Prodeo

I blame Geneva. It’s such a gorgeous-looking city (see the Wikipedia article for examples), it’s no wonder trade ministers would prefer to keep visiting it than actually reach an agreement. And, so, another long meeting of the Doha round of the WTO has failed to get a deal.

There’s some useful coverage at The Economist (though one should always keep in mind that publication’s biases when reading anything it publishes). Apparently:

In the end, it was a dispute over protection for developing countries’ farmers that proved the deal-breaker. The draft text envisaged a “special safeguard mechanism”—a right for developing countries to raise tariffs to protect their farmers against a surge of imports. America wanted the import volume that triggered the mechanism set relatively high; India wanted it low. Deadlock ensued; and that was that.

Continue reading ‘Doha trade negotiations collapse’