A Look at Services Trade: Implications of the Doha Talks Suspension and Resumption

Abstract

This chapter addresses the current World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on trade in services in the framework of the Doha Development Agenda. An analysis of the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong is provided. Following the suspension of the WTO multilateral trade negotiations in July 2006 - and its subsequent resumption in February 2007 - by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, the world trading system must now find ways and means to integrate developing countries. Failing that could be perceived as a danger to the world order. This chapter analyzes the legal and policy implications of the current Doha Round for the two main developed WTO Members, i.e., the United States and the European Community, and the most relevant developing countries of the WTO. Thoughts on alternative ways to move forward in the multilateral trading system are presented in the conclusions.

Keywords: services trade, Doha Round, WTO

JEL Classification: K33