Monday, July 28, 2008

[the doha dodo] logically impossible

The whole point in trade is that you get access to their markets and can access their technology, whilst protecting your own producers, e.g. in grain and minerals.

At a meeting like Doha, it's slightly ridiculous because each side is never going to concede protection of its farmers but at the same time, it wants access to the other nations' markets.

Pascal Lamy's 12% protection proposal is fraught because the very 12% each nation protects is precisely the one which the other countries wish to access. No one's going to settle for second best and offer their best to partners. China in particular is not going to do that.

Therefore Doha is still a Dodo, even before its official close.

6 comments:

  1. whist Doha is difficult, there have been many trade deals in the past. The ones of the 80's and 90's were a huge part of the global trade boom which have rescued billions from poverty.

    By your logic trade deals would never get done. But they do, this time it won't because they are harder to do when the economy is slowing. The true miss for Doha was 2 or 3 years ago.

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  2. It's too big an idea. It will never work.

    And if I was a diplomat for a developing nation I would be suspicious of any trade deals with the West given past events.

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  3. Off topic but you might find this interesting in light of your recent posts ;-)

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  4. I'm sorry but I share CUS's view- your view would suggest that all trade was a mistake- a zero sum game. But it actually isn't: people gain from trade and both sides often gain. Comparative Advantage is no fiction.

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  5. My MEP sits on this committee and from I understand, the problem is with America, they give their farmers huge subsidies which makes it impossible for poorer countries to compete with.

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  6. CUS and Gracchi - as I was in Trade in Russia, I'm well aware that deals do get made but they're more bilateral or small group.

    These extravaganzas of multi'nations are always mainly talkfests, though things like the 12% plan do come out of them.

    Rob, Ellee - yes that's so.

    Cherry - thanks.

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