I don’t see how Doha can make it

It has been going on for 5½ years, it has come down to the so-called G4 (United States, the European Union, Brazil and India), one of whom just gave up on being able to bind its members with a constitution, and talks still broke down 2 days early.

Protectionism (mostly subsidies) are just too great a sticking point. Note also that the G4 only includes the 2 developing countries that make the biggest impact (say, with pharmaceuticals). Whatever this meeting can nut out, there’s some distance between that agreement and one agreed upon by every member of the WTO. And this is at a time when more and more people are aware of, and annoyed about, the approach international organisitions take to representation during negotiations.

It appears NGOs of various stripes are only too pleased that it’s all breaking down (too secretive, extracting rents from poor countries, etc.). I disagree. They’re welcome to think the EU, US and Japan will react to the failure of the Doha rounds by creating a World Parliament, but that strikes me as highly unlikely. It will just mean more of the same bilateral Free Trade Areas – with which rich countries extract greater rents still.