Buck-naked Emperors in Cancun

Latin Trade, Jan, 2004 by Andres Hernandez Alende

Timed for release during the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun, Mexico in September of last year, The WTO and the Doha Round is made up of 15 essays written by various authors specializing in the issues of trade and economics, and touches upon topics such as the accomplishments and limits of the Doha Round; globalization in Latin America and the Caribbean; the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA); the Puebla-Panama Plan to develop trade ties between Mexico and Central America; human immigration; pharmaceutical patents, with an emphasis on medication for the fight against HIV/AIDS; and the specific free-trade strategies of certain countries, such as Mexico, Russia and Japan.

The goal of the conference in Cancun was to review negotiations to continue freeing up international trade. The book, edited by Maria Cristina Rosas, a professor and researcher at Mexico's National Autonomous University, serves as a reminder to the promoters of such liberalization that they seem to have forgotten the goal of economic development for poor countries. Multilateral negotiations lose ground in light of the abundance of bilateral pacts, a massive avalanche of agreements and proposals for deals that Rosas calls "tratadismo" or treaty-ism.

During the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, trade ministers adopted a program that was called the "development round." The purpose was to highlight the role of human development within the tasks that the WTO had to execute. But, as this book points out, the term can be deceiving. The fact that the negotiations were said to be based on development does not mean that, in practice, it was exactly so. As a matter of fact, in the rounds of the WTO, as in the negotiations for an FTAA, Rosas asserts, lies a hidden agenda: protectionism for developed countries. For example, the governments of the United States and Europe approved agricultural subsidies that allow their farmers to have a competitive advantage in international markets while shutting down agricultural producers in developing countries. In general, there is a contradiction between the rhetoric of free trade that is proposed by rich countries and the zeal with which they are willing to protect certain of their own national industries from competition.

Rosas' essay, which introduces the book. analyzes the Doha conference as an omen of what can he expected from international trade relationships. The author offers some pessimistic data: In 2002, world trade grew a mere 2.5%. The U.S. economy suffered an obvious deceleration from which it is just now starting to show signs of recovery, and some analysts believe that we have yet to see if the strategies of the Bush administration will yield positive results. European consumer goods sales rose just 0.6%. Japanese exports increased 3%. The world in 2002 was stagnant.

Trade vs. development. Rosas points out that even though foreign trade growth for China and India exceeded 10%, "if industrialized economies do not grow at significant proportions, the proposed link between trade and development of countries cannot prosper." To this slowing economic panorama we add the problem of terrorism, which has raised barriers for trade, stopped or derailed investment and absorbed resources, distracting the world from the task of development. The United States recently approved a US$87 billion budget to finance the occupation and democratization of Iraq, added to all the costs of the military operation in that country. The war with Iraq is bad news for poor countries that see important resources for investment and aid evaporating, Rosas writes.

Finally, Rosas criticizes "corporate irresponsibility," as seen in the infamous case of U.S. energy company Enron. In a world united under the doctrine of free trade, the fact that large corporations, the main players for globalization, are capable of such abuses could be signs of impending doom. The reduction of the government's role, another requirement for globalization, has weakened regulatory mechanisms. Rosas outlines with precision the enormous challenges faced by the agenda for development set forth at Doha. Could it be, as Agustin Lara is quoted in this book, that "rounds are not good?"

Excerpt from The WTO and the Doha Round:

"To think that well-being can be limited, and that it is enough for a minority of the population of the world to live in satisfactory conditions so that the international system can 'work,' is an illusion. Globalization goes hand-in-hand with interdependence, and it is clear that the well-being of the minority is a product of the suffering of the majority."