What Future for Wto Multilateral Negotiations?

Economic Policy Seminar

Short Report

“What    future    for    WTO    Multilateral    Negotiations?”(Frédéric    Payot)    

The   World    Trade    Organization    (WTO)    is    an    organization    that    intends    to    

supervise     and     liberalize       international       trade.       Essentially,     the    WTO     is       a      place    where     member   governments   go,   to   try   to   sort   out   the   trade   problems   they   face    with    each    other.    At    its    center    are    the    WTO    agreements,    negotiated    and    signed    by    the      majority    of    the    worlds    trading     nations.     These    documents    provide    the    legal    ground-­‐rules     for     international   commerce.   This   traduces   essentially   in   contracts,    binding    governments    to    keep    their    trade    policies    within    agreed    limits.        

Currently,   the   organization   faces   an   impasse   attempting   to   complete   the    negotiations     of    the     Doha    Round,    which    was    launched    in     2001    with    an     explicit    focus     on      addressing     the     needs       of    developing     countries.      The      reasons     for       this    impasse    can    be    explain    by    the    awareness    of    the    implications    of   the    commitments    that     countries   undertake    in    the     WTO.     The    perpetual   nature   of   the   commitments    and      the    trade    action    by    other    Members,    if    the    undertaking    agreements    do    not    live     up   to   its   commitments   lead   to   a    resistance   to   pressures   and   unreasonable    demands          by        other        countries.        It’s        important        to        put        emphasis        on        the        poor    economic       environment     since     2008     in     major     developed     economies     resulting     in    high     rates   of   unemployment   and   this   could   traduce   in   some   resilience   to   accept    new     trade    liberalization.    Unlike     in    the     past,     Developed    Countries     are     not   able     to    steer     the     negotiations     in    a   desired     directions   because   of   the   reasons   mentioned    above    as    well    as    the    formation    of    a    number    of    issue-­‐based    Developing    Countries-­‐ alliances,    which   lead    to    a    deadlock.