Trade Talks Lead to “Death of Doha and Birth of New WTO”

Members of the World Trade Organization committed to a global ban on agriculture export subsidies, with some exceptions. The WTO also signaled a move toward incremental changes as member states did not reach consensus on reaffirming the Doha round – a broad attempt underway since 2001 to reduce trade barriers and poverty for the world’s poorest nations. Shawn Donnan, writing for Financial Times, called the decisions “the biggest shake-up of its agenda in a generation,” adding “It also marked a victory for the US and EU, who alongside other developed economies have argued that clinging to the long-stalled Doha negotiations was making the institution irrelevant in a changing global economy.” Developed countries committed to ending subsidies immediately; developing nations, including China and India, committed to ending them in 2018. “A number of countries are currently using export subsidies to support agriculture exports,” reports the WTO. “The legally-binding decision would eliminate these subsidies and prevent governments from reverting to trade-distorting export support in the future.” Some exceptions include dairy, pork and processed products. The WTO also agreed to end export subsidies on more than 200 IT products. WTO decisions require consensus by all members. – YaleGlobal