Read Kevin Drum's take on the stalled Doha talks for a very succinct summing up. Sample:
"Trade talks aren't quite that bad. But they're close. The
Doha round in particular lives or dies based on the willingness of rich
nations to substantially reduce tariffs and subsidies on agricultural
products, and seriously, what are the odds of that? We can't even have
a serious discussion about reducing subsidies on corn ethanol, possibly
the stupidest use of taxpayer dollars in the past century, let alone
reducing farm support payments to ConAgra and Archer Daniels Midland.
Meanwhile, the European attitude toward farming makes ours look
positively levelheaded and beneficient. Paris would probably go up in
flames if EU farm payments were ever rationalized."
