Publication

This report discusses the indefinitely suspended World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trade negotiations — the so-called Doha Round or the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The focus initially is on the implications for future trade negotiations and the next U.S. farm bill of the suspension of negotiations in July 2006. The report discusses the agreements reached at the December 13-18, 2005, Hong Kong Ministerial meeting and reviews the agricultural negotiating developments that occurred in the second half of 2005 leading up to the Ministerial. Briefly discussed also are the role of the U.S. Congress; the major negotiating issues and proposals at play in the Doha Round; the historical development of agricultural trade negotiations since the Uruguay Round; and the potential economic benefits estimated to ensue from a successful trade agreement according to several recent studies.