Sunday, August 3, 2014

WTO- Regulation not by deterrence

From the GATT era of battling tariff barriers in International Trade,the universal perception across trading nations has remained strait jacketed. Post  2008 global downturn ,disagreements still continue in the WTO,particularly in agriculture subsidies .The developed countries give $400 billion of subsidies every year to farmers but are still considered compliant with WTO rules because they opt for income support to their farmers instead of providing subsidies like India.In these skirmishes the larger battle for expanded wold trade is lost.  While individual nations would gladly tap into the advantages provided by  globalisation ,they show reluctance to share common problems in the interests of increased  trade.  Global trade has steadily weakened,  almost  stagnant in the last six months.  In good times, the trade generated by a country’s growth bolsters global growth.  As growths decline it is  followed by a decline in trade  thus  setting up a vicious cycle that skews progressive  discussions in trade fora,that sees deterrence as an operative part of trade  regulation. 

Pub Economic Times Aug 4


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