The World Trade Organization and the Doha Round 2008 - A Pause or Breakdown?

Table of Content

Tables

Abbreviations

1. Introduction

2. The eight trade rounds after GATT and the Doha Round
2.1. The eight trade rounds held after 1947
2.1.1. The Geneva Round
2.1.2. The Annecy Round
2.1.3. The Torquay Round
2.1.4. The Geneva Round
2.1.5. The Dillion Round
2.1.6. The Kennedy Round
2.1.7. The Tokyo Round
2.1.8. The Uruguay Round
2.2. The Doha Round
2.2.1. Objectives of the Doha Round
2.2.2. Why has the Doha Round continuously failed?
2.2.3. Relevance of the Doha Round based on the present trade scenario

3. How can the Doha Round be able to meet consensus?

4. Critically discussion of underpinned theoretical concepts and their usefulness to a manager

References
i. Textbooks
ii. Journals
iii. Newspapers
iv. Internet Sources

Tables

Table 1: The eight trade rounds held after 1947. 5

Table 2: Average Tariff Changes in the Tokyo Round (TR) 1973-79. 8

Abbreviations

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1. Introduction

Nowadays, our economy is signed by the impacts of the globalization which has led to a closer integration of markets around the world. Countries and their companies are taking advantage of foreign markets and their availability of resources in order to improve their performance. However, the ability to do so is the result of multilateral trade negotiations after World War II.

In 1947, negotiations of General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) took place for the first time in order to promote and improve international trade. In particular it focused on reducing the three mayor barriers to trade, tariffs, exports subsidies and domestic support(Tantia 2009). After 1947 eight rounds of negotiations have been held. By the fact that developed and developing countries were frightened that GATT could benefit the other more than them, consequently each of the following rounds has failed.

In 1995 GATT has been replaced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which highlighted that progress could be achieved through the enhanced integration of developing countries into the world economy(Busse 2003).

This assignment is going to analyse the various trade rounds held after the formation of GATT and the Doha Round and why they have failed continuously. Furthermore, it will be discussed how the Doha Round could make consensus and what steps are needed to achieve consensus.

In conclusion the theoretical concepts that underpin this case will be discussed and it will be analyzed how a business manager can use them.

2. The eight trade rounds after GATT and the Doha Round

2.1. The eight trade rounds held after 1947

After the GATT had come into existence eight further rounds of trade negotiations were held. The following table is showing them. Their contents and ability of success will be analyzed in the following.

Table 1: The eight trade rounds held after 1947

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Source: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/fact4_e.htm

2.1.1. The Geneva Round

This round was the first round of negotiations and took place from April to October 1974. 23 participating countries negotiated on a bilateral “product by product, request offer” basis, they completed 123 negotiations and established 20 schedules which dealt with the reduction of tariffs. This agreement included 45.000 tariff concessions which affected $ 10 billion in trade.

It was successful since the US was willing to reduce or cut its tariffs on European imports and did not put European countries under pressure to abandon their trade restrictions.

However, this round could not make much progress in liberalizing trade, as the EU relied heavily on non-tariff measures to increase their trade(Tantia, 2009; Södersten and Reed, 1994, 2001).

2.1.2. The Annecy Round

The Annecy Round was held from April to August 1949 and its participants met to negotiate additional 13.000 tariff reductions, however, there were no significant reduction. It was agreed that the accession of a new member country does not require unanimity, but a two third majority of all other member countries.

Also the concessions of this round were not significant(Tantia, 2009; Södersten and Reed, 1994, 2001, Buckley, 2003).

2.1.3. The Torquay Round

From September 1950 to April 1951 38 countries met to complete 500 negotiations on additional tariff reductions, but also this negotiations were not successfully. In particular a dispute between the Unites States and the United Kingdom of bilateral tariff cuts on trade avoid a positive outcome.

The US indicated that the ITO Charter would not be re-submitted to the US Congress, so consequently this was the end of ITO.

Nevertheless, 8.700 tariff concessions yielding tariff reductions of about 25 % in relation to the 1948 have been exchanged by the contracting parties(Tantia, 2009; Södersten and Reed, 1994, 2001).

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