World Trade Organization Seattle Ministerial: Outcomes and Lessons Learned

摘要

WTO member countries failed to meet their goal of launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at their biennial ministerial conference last December in Seattle. The conference was suspended without initiating a new round or issuing a ministerial declaration. No one factor, but a combination of circumstances, led to the impasse. However, two themes emerged. First, there was lack of agreement on many issues both among major trading partners and between developed and many developing countries on the eve of the ministerial conference. Disagreement centered on the scope of the round and stemmed from the sensitivity and complexity of the issues being addressed. Second, the Seattle negotiation process had inherent difficulties.