Breathing life into Doha

Trade ministers from the EU, United States, Brazil and India will meet this week in Potsdam, Germany to try and bring the stalled Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations forward.  The main sticking point is agriculture. Brazil and India will have little interest in discussing lowering tariffs on industrial goods before agricultural issues are resolved. The United States may not be able to cut its farm subsidies, while France is likely to block any concessions from the EU on agricultural tariffs. 

Meanwhile, countries are positioning themselves for the endgame, rushing to strike bilateral deals with important trading partners, leaving less fortunate countries to fend for themselves. The problem is really quite simple. While all countries stand to gain from a strengthened multilateral trading system in the long term, their leaders are not willing to confront vocal domestic groups on controversial short-term issues.