Welcome to Cato Daily Podcast

Tuesday, June 26.

This is your host Anastasia Yuglova.

Well, the news from the Trade Front just makes you want to throw your hands up and

ask this again? Doha Round trade talks collapsed once more for the fifth time

and were suspended indefinitely. WTO Director General Pascal Lammy and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab

would like to breathe new life into the talks, but is it still feasible?

We'll ask Cato's Daniel Eikinson for some clarity.

What happened at the breakdown of Doha Trade Talks?

Was it the row over the U.S. farm subsidies that finally did the Doha round in?

Agricultural subsidies have been the most contentious aspect of the negotiations.

Certainly since the Cancun debacle in 2003, I don't think the talks really ever recuperated

from that breakdown in Cancun. But at the end of the day I don't think you can

cast blame entirely on the United States or Europe even though their agricultural policies

really do need to be reformed. I really think developing countries are not that interested in trade

liberalization.

There's a concern on their part that they're competing a lot with imports from China, and many of

them don't want to leave themselves without the political option of responding

to increased to Chinese imports with measures to stop that.

So I think countries recognize the benefits of trade liberalization, but nobody really wants to be bound to new commitments

at this point. The United States blamed Brazil and India for being uncompromising

and inflexible. What did those two countries want from the negotiations?

...