Lowered expectations

It has to be a bad sign when this is the operating mindset going into a round of negotiations:

A deal on a new global trade treaty is unlikely to come out of next month's World Trade Organization meeting, but the Hong Kong summit won't collapse like the previous meeting, India's trade minister said Monday...

While members at one point expected to reach a new deal in Hong Kong, "divergent and contentious issues" mean an agreement "will not be possible," Indian Commerce Minster Kamal Nath said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Unless there's a strong respose to this from other states involved - particularly those trying to defend farm and manufacturing subsidies - it looks like the WTO (like the summit of the Americas) will at best be an exercise in damage control. And that makes it all too likely that last summer's promise to pair third-world debt relief with meaningful market access will be long forgotten by the time the issue is seriously discussed again.