Trade’s Peacemaking Role
The agreement among the World Trade Organization’s 142 member nations on a new round of talks represents an important victory over isolationism. The bargaining at the just-ended meeting of trade ministers in Doha, Qatar, was tough; implementing agreements during the planned three years of talks will be even tougher, but the result surely will be worth it.
Global trade brings consumers cheaper and often better goods, and lowering or abolishing tariffs makes those goods even more affordable. Freer trade will be a boost for poor nations like newfound U.S. ally Pakistan, which depends heavily on exports. There is ample evidence that nations that increase trade create new jobs and reduce poverty. When there is more money to build schools and provide medical care, offering the hope that life will get better, the temptations to violence and terror lessen.
It is true, as India argued forcefully at the ministers meeting, that past trade agreements too often have been ignored. There’s no doubt that individual nations look to protect their own interests, especially when these involve politically important constituencies like farmers. But retreating behind tariffs and quotas, shutting out the rest of the world, hurts countries rather than helping. U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick was right to say that the new round of trade talks can help deliver “growth, development and prosperity” worldwide.
The United States compromised on drug patents, agreeing to the right of poor countries to determine whether they have an emergency requiring them to copy patented drugs they could not otherwise afford. The problem became obvious when AIDS struck impoverished nations and health officials said they could not afford the expensive pharmaceuticals available in the U.S. and European countries. Developing nations gained ammunition when the Bush administration forced the maker of the anthrax drug Cipro to reduce the price.
The WTO nations also agreed to reduce and eliminate tariffs on nonagricultural goods, particularly products important to developing countries. That matters greatly to Pakistan, where more than half the exports are cloth or clothing. After Sept. 11, textile exports dropped dramatically, and the already poor country could wind up with $2 billion less in revenues this year than it had expected. Lower tariffs would help restore lost sales. However, getting domestic textile producers to agree to smaller tariffs and quotas or none at all will be difficult in many nations, including the United States.
The trade talks in Seattle broke down without agreement two years ago as huge anti-trade street protests rocked the meeting. The stakes were higher this time because of a deteriorating economy worldwide. To their credit, the trade ministers understood the need and reached consensus on thorny issues.
