Sixty years of economic and diplomatic work going down the drain
The Doha round of World Trade Organization talks are falling apart, largely because no one knows what the Bush Administration will do and it isn't in the mood for any dissent -- so no talks will move forward successfully. It's a disaster, if you think the entire post-World War II era, during which the United States cobbled together a trade regime that was, albeit slowly, improving conditions around the world.
Anti-globalists will certainly take me to task for thinking that the WTO is a good thing while Bush-backers will say I'm naive to think the United States shouldn't be setting the global agenda without dissent. The problem with both these views is that they lead to a world defined by trade wars, where the compromises that were improving conditions worldwide are obliterated by self-serving decisions that erode prices and environmental and labor protection around the world.
A middle-of-the-road approach, alas, is never perceived as principled and courageous, but it has consistently proved to be the most successful approach as the United States brought together anti-Communist coalitions during the Cold War and, during the 1990s, dealt with the world as a conciliator rather than acting on its own without backing by other nations and the United Nations. In less than two years, all of this lies in ruins and it is a real concern looking forward at the economic opportunity for U.S. companies.
Posted by Mitch Ratcliffe at March 30, 2003 04:34 PM | TrackBack