Doha Round Schisms: Numerous, Technical, and Deep

Abstract

[...] This article chronicles the schisms in the Doha Round, which was launched in November 2001 in the Qatari capital, with resoluteness to fight back in the international economic arena against terrorism. Yet, many of the schisms existed well before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, dating from the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, and even before. The solidarity in the post-9/11 environment proved short-lived, and was perhaps nothing more than a thin veil. Sections II, III, and IV, respectively, cover the fall 2007 Doha Round talks in agriculture, industrial trade and services, and trade remedy rules. Section V reviews the winter 2007 discussions on agriculture. Section VI summarizes the Draft Modalities Texts of February 2008. Section VII offers concluding observations.