ABSTRACT
For the United States, participation in the Miami Group was vital to its participation in the negotiation. Participation by the United States was further complicated by the enduring perception that it wished to thwart the negotiations. The protocol process appeared to have been reduced to the negotiation of a political statement which could be pointed to as evidence that environmental safety concerns had been addressed, rather than a mechanism that could be implemented in order to actually protect the environment. The World Trade Organization Ministerial in Seattle just a month earlier had neither a direct nor a unique impact on the protocol negotiation. Despite initial, sometimes incredulous opposition from one or more of the other negotiating blocs, the compromises prevailed in the final hours of the negotiation, and proved absolutely critical to the successful conclusion of the protocol in Montreal.
