RIP Doha

Above: Definitely not Beavis and Butt-head: “money, money, trade, herher, more money, hehe herher”

Monday will mean a further blow to the WTO’s Doha Development Round as trade giants the EU and US meet for their annual summit in Washington.

In a pre-summit speech Commission President Barroso (pictured) has stated "the summit will sign up to a transatlantic economic integration framework" (source). PI translates this as supporting and enhancing bilateral trade between the US and EU - the meeting will formally ratify the Open Skies Agreement, for example (source).

According to the WTO DG, Pascal Lamy, bilateral trade agreements are counterproductive to the WTO's mission (source) and shouldn’t replace multilateral agreements (source).

But with Doha at an impasse, Monday’s meeting is clearly treading the bilateral path.

PI notes the Washington meeting, which lasts all of 2 hours is also meant to address climate change and the Middle East.

Yeah who are they trying to kid?

END

WTO
Read why Mandy says bilaterals are ok.
Read about the Doha Round.