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17 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 349 (2000)
Failed Efforts to Initiate the Millenium Round in Seattle: Lessons for Future Global Trade Negotiations

handle is hein.journals/ajicl17 and id is 363 raw text is: FAILED EFFORTS TO INITIATE THE MILLENNIUM ROUND IN SEATTLE: LESSONS FOR FUTURE GLOBAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS David A. Gantz* Suspension'--Setback--Disappointment-Disaster-Debacle-are only a few of the terms used by various World Trade Organization (WTO) members, the press and the public to describe the failure of the members of the WTO to initiate a new Millennium Round of global trade liberalization negotiations.' Regardless of the term used to describe what happened in Seattle from November 29-December 3, 1999, the experience raises at least three significant questions addressed by this essay: First, what went wrong? Second, what happens next with regard to further global trade negotiations in the more or less continuing post World War II process toward freer trade? Finally, what is the probable impact of Seattle on Chinese accession to the WTO (as it becomes increasingly clear that the two are related, at least in the United States)? The full implications of Seattle will be revealed only over time. As of April 2000 it is already obvious that the implications are substantial, fundamentally changing the operations of the WTO and the nature of any future negotiations that will facilitate the expansion of world trade. In considering these questions one should keep in mind that obtaining the agreement of the members of the international community on freer trade-on market opening measures-has always been a difficult process, and that other global trade negotiation rounds under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have been delayed and/or limited in success. (The previous Uruguay Round negotiations were effectively suspended in 1990 and again in 1992, but ultimately produced agreement in 1993, more than three years after the intended completion date. 2) WTO data indicates that as a partial result of trade liberalization over the past fifty years, exports worldwide account for over twenty-five percent of world- wide Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared with only eight percent in 1950. * Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Law, the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law; Associate Director, National Law Center for Inter- American Free Trade. This is a revised and expanded version of a paper that was prepared December 5, 1999, and presented to various university and business groups in Korea, December 6-10, 1999. The author is grateful to the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State for the opportunity to discuss these issues in Korea. I. See, itter alia, Robert G. Kaiser & John Burgess, Fruitless in Seattle, WASH. POST NAT'L WKLY ED., Dec. 20-27, 1999, at 20-21. 2. See Charlene Barshefsky & Michael Moore, Joint Press Conference (visited Jan. 5, 2000) <http://www.usia.gov/vto/ppl203b.htm>.

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