Remember the Doha Round?

Buried deep below the global financial crisis, which is sucking up nearly all media air right now, lurks the specter of the World Trade Organization’s seemingly endless siege to institute its ‘development round’ of trade liberalization. For the record, the talks are stalled at an impasse pitting emerging markets against industrialized countries over the quid-pro-quo trade-off between relaxing barriers to agriculture in return for relaxing barriers to manufactured goods (and some services).

Commenced in 2001, the process has been unofficially suspended (cynics would say “collapsed”) since August. 

But subterranean rumblings suggest that pressure---driven by the world-wide economic crisis---mounts to reconvene a ministerial-level Doha meeting next month. In part this is an outgrowth of the G-20 meeting last week in Washington, where the need to deal with pervasive absence of confidence was loudly sounded.

While WTO chief Pierre Lamy warns that he will not bring ministers to Geneva if there are still wide gaps in technical areas of the talks, momentum is building to make enough progress to justify a session.

But the United States remains---at least outwardly---reluctant to budge. The National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Coalition of Service Industries sent a collective message to President Bush warning against prematurely reconvening the talks.

Whether we’re in the midst of a global game of trade politics chicken or on the verge of a breakthrough remains uncertain. 

But one thing is pretty sure. Given the magnitude of the precipice the world is dangling above, it makes more sense than ever right now to opt for international collaboration. right now. Even if that has not been the primary m.o. of this administration. 

A U.S. approach that smacks of stubborn obstructionism is hardly likely to gain us much future leverage in a changing international economic order.