The long deadlocked Doha Round of trade talks under the World Trade Organization has recently gained fresh momentum. A broad consensus now exists on a minipackage aiming to smooth the progress of customs procedures. This trade-facilitation agreement could conclude the Doha Round. Understandably, this minimalism is prone to objections from those who are more ambitious. This time, however, less is more. First of all, the mini-package is acceptable to most WTO members. More importantly, this agreement is a better preparation for the new trade reality that has replaced the traditional one, which was imbued with mercantilist thinking.
Ever since its official launch in November 2001, the Doha Round negotiations have resembled a dismal cycle of hope and despair. So many deadlines lapsed with little agreement on any items. Against this background, the recent call for closing a deal might easily translate into yet another vain gesture. Nonetheless, this time it does appear to be different. By and large, the “fear” factor has triggered the recent call for action. For the first time since the financial crisis in 2008, Pascal Lamy, the head of the WTO, sounded a genuinely serious warning against crisis protectionism. Lamy made a critical observation that the protectionist measures that have slowly accumulated since 2008 are “cholesterol” clogging the artery of global commerce and amount to 3 percent of world merchandise trade.
