Introduction Trading Traditions: Straw Arguments in North-South Trade

From a vantage point of post-11 September 2001, as the US is vigorously engaged in seemingly unilateral battles against terror in the Middle East, it is ostensibly difficult to speak of deepening multilateralism. At the same time, though, as the US is increasing its farm subsidies and hiking up tariffs to protect its ailing steel industry, it is increasingly clear that the US no longer fulfills its historical role as the white knight of the multilateral trade regime. Nonetheless the wheels are in motion and negotiations in the 2002—05 Doha Round have begun under the auspices of the WTO.