ABSTRACT
World trade is doing unusually well halfway through the first decade of the new millennium, but trade agreements are faltering. In the Americas, the greatest ever initiative for the region has gone into an induced coma after more than ten years of negotiations. In Geneva, trading partners manage to move very slowly, in an exercise which attempts to reconcile the consistent lowering of ambitions with the need to spread the blame equally amongst those involved. Around the world, the question to ask is, does it make sense to devote so much energy to so many agreements? Is free trade being served or is something else the endgame? Maybe trade does not need agreements any more and can take the reins of its own destiny. Countries certainly continue to have great difficulty selling trade agreements internally, at least insofar as they are perceived to meddle too much with domestic policy. Many countries still go through the motions, but often for reasons other than trade itself.
