Coalitions of Countries in the GATT/WTO Negotiations
Coalitions of Countries in the GATT/WTO Negotiations

Summary/Abstract: This contribution analyzes the goal and potential of three types of coalitions in the negotiations on the grounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization including the description of their formation. The growing number of coalitions and the circle of areas concerned indicate that institutions of international trade become significant for a broad range of countries and that they become a significant instrument in multilateral negotiations. Although Pascal Lamy says, “trade is a part of the solution of the global economic crisis”, it can rather be expected that the financial crisis will slow the multilateral liberalisation down, but after it fades away, probably in a situation when many countries will have implemented protectionist measures, coalitions of countries can represent a significant instrument leading to their resuscitation. In the definition of the Uruguay as well as the multilateral Doha Round agendas, coalitions played a positive role which could be repeated at the re-intensification of negotiations.

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