Crisis in Cancún

Member states of the WTO met unsuccessfully in Cancún to discuss progress in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The task was to relieve the deadlock plaguing the trade agenda and in so doing agree to concessions designed to address the development concerns of the Global South, while placating the North’s desire to begin negotiations on the so-called Singapore issues. Should a political settlement be agreed post-Cancún, the vulnerability of developing states is likely to be exacerbated. The only way to address both this potential danger and to remove some of the inertia plaguing the WTO is to place a moratorium on the negotiations of the Singapore issues and to concentrate instead on addressing the development dimension of the DDA. The problem for the industrial world is that to do so would be politically damaging. But for the most vulnerable, maintaining the present course brings with it greater risks.