On the Collapse of the WTO

Posted by: Clare

What is free trade if not efficient? The WTO is in trouble and people are starting to take notice. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Foreign Policy:

R.I.P., WTO

…After eight painful years of standstill and failure, with each meeting just a shoveling of intractable problems forward to the next, the Doha talks might collapse once and for all in 2010, possibly taking the World Trade Organization down in the process…That’s dangerous because for all its failings, the WTO is a rare international organization that works as intended…If Doha falls apart, the WTO’s ability to continue performing its vital functions would be imperiled. If it can’t forge new agreements, how long before it loses the authority to arbitrate disputes?…What an irony that would be for President Barack Obama. Despite making multilateralism a keystone of his foreign policy, he may preside over the marginalization of the most successful multilateral insitution of all.

Good point, Mr. Blustein. If the WTO is undermined in any capacity, the consequences will undoubtedly be disasterous. Further reading. Even further reading.