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The Doha Round – also referred to as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) – has been troubled almost from the beginning and left many onlookers concerned for the future of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the multilateral trading system. Suspended and revived several times over the past decade, the Doha Round seemingly ended in defeat in 2008 (World Trade Organization, 2006; International Center for Trade and Development, 2006; Castle and Landler, 2008; Stewart, 2008). Since that time, attempts to revive the Round have been unsuccessful, and the Round is essentially dead. The reasons for the collapse are numerous, but perhaps the most important reason is that Members were simply not able to overcome longstanding differences over old economy issues, most prominently agriculture-related policies.
Fourteen years after the launch of the Doha Round and following months of contentious consultations, the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya (“Nairobi Ministerial”), attempted to breathe new life into the Round by reaching an agreement on the issues of export competition and agricultural subsidies – the so-called Nairobi Package (World Trade Organization, 2015a). The Nairobi Package has been described as an historic and ground-breaking sign of progress, but the reality is less glowing, as there remain a number of issues that have been left for the Members to determine and manage at a later stage. Moreover, the status and future of the Doha Round remains uncertain, and it is our contention that the Nairobi Ministerial finally buried the Round. From here forward, at least in the short and medium term, WTO negotiations will focus on small, manageable issues and, in so doing, depart from the organization’s core concept of the “single undertaking”[1].
This article provides commentary and analysis on these developments. Part I serves as a refresher to the Doha Round deadlock by briefly explaining why the Members failed to conclude the negotiations in a timely manner. Part I also provides an overview of the Nairobi Package as a means to show where the Doha Round stands as of early-2017. Part II starts by discussing the consequences of the outcomes decided (or otherwise) at Nairobi in terms of multilateral trade policymaking and suggests that, owing to the Organization’s structure, subsequent negotiations will have to be undertaken in a...