Editorial Comment

摘要

World trade was dealt a serious blow when on July 29,2008,the World Trade Organi-sation's (WTO) Doha Round of trade talks finally hit the buffers. After seven years of painful,and at times,acrimonious talks,the final nail in the coffin came as a result of China and India failing to reach agreement on a so-called 'special safeguard mechanism' designed to protect farmers in poorer countries from a flood of cheap imports.