International trade agreements and enforcement have long been a tangled, delicate web. Disputes take ages to sort out and the rules are unevenly applied.
Now, discontent is growth. Yesterday, Russia said the latest US sanctions violate WTO agreements. Today the trade rep Michael Froman was frustrated after a deal broke down:
“We are deeply disappointed that backsliding on Trade Facilitation has brought the WTO to the brink of crisis … The current state of play on Trade Facilitation threatens to deal a serious blow to the credibility of the multilateral trading system and to set back the development needs of many countries around the world.”
India’s new government has backtracked on previous tentative agreements. The risk is that with the balance of power shifting towards emerging markets and the developed world stuck in a rut, politicians could take drastic steps.
