Developing Countries who wanted absolutely to make this round a "development round" (as they understand the meaning of this expression) are surely now thinking about the consequences of the failure of the Doha Round. As always, the most important consequences for them will be unintended. The following Statement by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa gives us a foretaste of these unintended consequences:
It's an outrage that labor rights and the environment are not even a consideration at the WTO. Just this past weekend, the United States once again got desperate and actually suggested the possibility of negotiating on 'Mode 4,' which would essentially be making immigration policy at the WTO. This is not just unacceptable, but it is unconstitutional.
So my intuition is that the failure of the Doha Round would bring on the table of the next Round labor rights and environmental issues which are at the heart of the comparative advantages of many developing countries.As we know, this has already happened in bilateral deals, and I am not sure if developing countries would be happy to see these issues in the menu of the next Round, as a result of the failure of Doha.
