Chairman's Statement, WTO (May 2010 Yale Meeting) (4)

Although the exchange of views was off the record, it was agreed at the outset that, after the meeting, I would issue a “chairman’s statement” on what I perceived to be the salient features of the discussion. [...] Reasons for the Doha Round Impasse The unwillingness of the United States, the European Union and a number of the developing countries to make more ambitious proposals is a symptom of the decline in support for trade liberalization. [...] • Free riders account for a large proportion of the WTO membership, namely the least-developed countries, the “recently acceded members” and the ACP countries – the ex-colonies associated with the European Union in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. [...] In fact the Doha Round negotiations are the ninth round of multilateral trade negotiations based on unconditional MFN treatment which, with the tradition of decision making by consensus, has put effective control of the negotiations in the hands of the “least willing participants”. [...] The chief merit of the approach is that it would allow the pace of negotiations to be set by the most willing participants rather than by the most reluctant ones.