WTO to Focus on Dispute Role After Doha Blow
July 29, 2008, Reuters/Forbes Online, among others

The World Trade Organization (WTO) failed to establish a global trade agreement during the latest Doha round.  Since it may be some time before the next round of negotiations, the organization is refocusing on its dispute-resolution role.

"The WTO doesn't become less relevant or important because the Doha round goes down — the Doha round is not the WTO," said David Hartridge, a senior trade policy advisor at White & Case in Geneva.

Hartridge, who formerly was the acting director-general of the WTO, explains that the WTO, in addition to advocating for free trade, also helps settle trade-related disputes between countries using an "agreed legal system."

As an example, Hartridge points out an ongoing disagreement between the European Union and the United States regarding passenger jets manufactured by Boeing and Airbus.  Without WTO intervention, it could have turned into a series of retaliatory trade sanctions.

"I see it as the great success of the system in keeping what could be a very damaging conflict between two great trading powers within the bounds of law and good sense," he said.