Introduction

As 2011 drew to a close the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (the DDA—but what is universally known as the Doha round) entered a second decade of negotiations much like it had left the last: in deadlock. While a stasis continues to afflict the DDA, dramatic changes have occurred in the external environment. When the DDA was launched, robust growth, low inflation and low interest rates were evident in most of the developed economies. The US budget surplus built up by the Clinton administration looked like it might create a situation in which the United States paid off its national debt. ¹ And China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse had begun, but had not yet generated the alarm among the established powers—particularly the United States—that would subsequently emerge.