ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of the summit in trade policy reviewed briefly, in the context of the Tokyo and Uruguay rounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The main role of summitry in the launch of the Uruguay Round was as a focal point for co-ordinating among different institutions, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Quad—amplified by the inclusion of some Southern countries—and the GATT. The role of G7/8 summitry in either the Doha launch or negotiations was minimal, consisting of some promises concerning the poorest countries, which were largely irrelevant to the negotiations. The central concern is how to achieve not simply a re-launch of Doha—desirable as that would undoubtedly be—but a discussion of the range of fundamental issues concerning the trading system. The G8 summit is an inappropriate forum for trade policy in world.
