Eight Years of Doha Trade Talks: Where Do We Stand?

In 2001 the World Trade Organization launched a highly ambitious program of multilateral liberalization. Eight years later, concluding the negotiations is uncertain, though an opportunity still exists. Since 2001, many proposals on market access have been brought to the negotiating table by the European Union, the United States, and the G20. Because it is politically and economically acceptable to many parties, the final December 2008 package could be the basis of an agreement. An evaluation of these various proposals shows how trade negotiations have been following countries’ strategic interests. In eight years, the ambition of the formula in agricultural market access tariff reduction has increased, but additional flexibilities designed to accommodate domestic political constraints have offset delivered market access. The various scenarios imply losses for least-developed countries, reflecting eroded preferences and rising terms of trade for imported commodities, including food products. We study how this trade reform can be more development-friendly.computable general equilibrium modeling, least developed countries, trade negotiations, Financial Economics, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Public Economics,

Eight years of Doha trade talks

In 2001, the World Trade Organization launched a highly ambitious program of multilateral liberalization. Eight years later, concluding the negotiations is uncertain, though an opportunity still exists. Since 2001, many proposals on market access have been brought to the negotiating table by the E.U., the United States, and the G-20. Because it is politically and economically acceptable to many parties, the final December 2008 package could be the basis of an agreement. An evaluation of these various proposals shows how trade negotiations have been following countries’ strategic interests. In eight years, the ambition of the formula to reduce agricultural market access tariffs has increased, but flexibilities added to accommodate domestic political constraints have offset delivered market access. The December 2008 package would reduce these average tariffs by 25 percent, a reduction very close to the one implied by the Harbinson and Girard proposals of 2003. This has to be compared with the 73 percent reduction in world agricultural protection by the very ambitious 2005 U.S. proposal. The 2005 G-20 and E.U. proposals were intermediate outcomes. The December 2008 package implies a reduction of agricultural protection by 6 percentage points in high-income countries and 0.5 percentage points in middle-income countries. If the U.S. proposal had been applied, these figures would have been 12.4 and 4.7, respectively. Different scenarios imply losses for developing countries, reflecting eroding preferences and rising terms of trade for imported commodities, including food products. We study how this trade reform can be more development-friendly.Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, Developing countries, Trade negotiations, WTO Doha round,

The fall of Doha and the rise of regionalism? CEPS Policy Brief No. 111, September 2006

The indefinite prorogation of the WTO’s Doha trade talks in July suggests that the global appetite for multilateralism may now be seriously weakened. In this new Policy Brief, CEPS Senior Research Fellow David Kernohan and T. Huw Edwards of Loughborough University look at how a failed or significantly delayed Doha round (say till 2009 at the earliest) could affect the scope and structure of any eventual WTO deal. In particular, if a rise in regionalism in the interim is inevitable, they ask whether the EU should reassess its regional trade policy objectives? A move from a multilateral focus to a twinned regional-multilateral trade policy stance will have consequences, both for practical reasons of EC ‘institutional capacity’ and for strategic reasons, in terms of choice of partner/s. Either way, tough decisions will have to be made. Wherever possible, the authors argue that these tactical choices should be preceded by careful technical analysis of the choice of regional partners and trading groups, as well as on traditional ‘diplomatic’ methods of trade partner selection

A language for information commerce processes

Automatizing information commerce requires languages to represent the typical information commerce processes. Existing languages and standards cover either only very specific types of business models or are too general to capture in a concise way the specific properties of information commerce processes. We introduce a language that is specifically designed for information commerce. It can be directly used for the implementation of the processes and communication required in information commerce. It allows to cover existing business models that are known either from standard proposals or existing information commerce applications on the Internet. The language has a concise logical semantics. In this paper we present the language concepts and an implementation architecture

What if the Doha Round Fails? Implications for Canadian Agriculture

Many commentators assume that the WTO Doha Round negotiations have already failed and that this failure will not matter for Canadian agriculture. Neither view is correct. Most countries appear willing to make the effort needed to bring the negotiations to a make or break point in early 2008. If the Doha Round does eventually fail, an important opportunity to make the agricultural trading system significantly less distorted, more open and fair will have been lost. For Canadian agriculture, the failure to move the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) forward has more serious consequences than just missing the chance to improve the rules governing agricultural trade; it could signal a return to increased protectionism, more managed trade, a return to competitive subsidization, and an escalation in the number of trade disputes.International Relations/Trade,

Potential of carbon markets for small farmers

While agriculture accounts for an estimated 10 to 14 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, its role as a mitigating force is receiving increasing attention. This discussion paper provides a quick overview of the literature on the climate change mitigation potential of agriculture, the regulatory and voluntary frameworks under which such a contribution could be rewarded, and the economic literature that focuses on agriculture’s participation in climate change mitigation efforts. While there is general agreement on the potential for mitigation, several barriers have prevented farmers from entering the so-called carbon markets. The paper reviews the main challenges faced by smallholder farmers in accessing such markets.carbon markets, Carbon sequestration, Smallholder farmers,

What is a sustainable level of CO2 emissions from transport activity in the UK in 2050?

The paper reports on the development of UK transport targets for CO2 emissions for 2050. Five key studies containing future carbon emissions scenarios for the UK were used to establish targets for overall reductions in emissions to achieve stabilisation at 550 ppm and 450 ppm of atmospheric CO2. Two approaches were used to consider the proportion of total emissions that would be attributable to transport in the future: 26% of total emissions as now and an increase to 41% of total emissions in line with forecasts. The overall targets and expected contributions from transport were used to derive target emissions for the transport sector to be achieved by 2050, which ranged from 8.2 MtC to 25.8 MtC. Even the weakest of these targets represents a considerable reduction from current emissions levels

Climate Change and World Energy

This Interim Report first appeared as a chapter in Climate Change - Socio-economic Dimensions of Mitigation Measures (Pekka Pirilae, Editor; publisher Oy EDITA AB, Helsinki, 2000). It is reprinted here, with permission, with minor revisions. Preceding chapters in the book discuss possible adverse consequences of climate change. This chapter starts by assuming that the possibility of such adverse consequences justifies action to limit climate change. Its purpose is then twofold. First, it summarizes the state of the art in modeling long-term greenhouse gas emissions from energy use, and extracts lessons for international (and national) efforts to limit emissions. Two such lessons are emphasized - the importance of technological progress to reduce the world's energy intensity, and the importance from shifting from fossil to non-fossil fuels as our primary energy sources. Given these basic objectives, this chapter next addresses "burden sharing"- the question of how the burden of limiting emissions ought to be shared among countries, particularly between rich and poor. The chapter does not advocate any particular burden sharing formula; indeed it argues that debates over formulas may generate more heat than light. Instead the chapter emphasizes efforts to implement and expand emission trading, particularly with developing countries, which are expected to have large opportunities for low-cost emission reductions. Not only will effective trading lead to efficient reductions, it could well represent large revenues for developing countries - revenues that the rich developed countries could well be more than happy to pay

Market Access Issues in the Context of the Doha Development Round: Bangladesh’s Interests and Concerns

The paper highlighted how gradual reduction in the tariff barriers aimed to facilitating market access for goods that was at the heart of the GATT process. These reductions were negotiated line by line and attempt was also made to deal with non-tariff barriers (NTBs), elimination of tariffs on certain information technology and pharmaceutical products. The paper is regarding the market access for products of interest to LDC member countries in the WTO such as Bangladesh and a number of outstanding issues could not be adequately addressed during the GATT Uruguay Round. It also provide an overview of some of the more pressing concerns with respect to market access emphasising full implementation of UR commitment, lack of enthusiasm on the part of the developed countries to include in the ongoing negotiations issues relating to market access in services of interest to the developing countries and LDCs, and these concerns were becoming more pronounced for Bangladesh.Market Access, Doha Round, Bangladesh