Talks to expand the World Trade Organization have collapsed after a week of negotiations. The United States and other industrial nations have been trying unsuccessfully to expand the WTO since 2001, after a trade meeting in Doha. The chief of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, admitted yesterday the talks had failed.

Pascal Lamy: “I think it’s no use beating around the bush. This meeting has collapsed.”

Lori Wallach of Public Citizen said the US and other nations now need to move on to a new agenda fixing the existing WTO rules. Wallach said, “Thank God no deal was reached, because the proposal under consideration would have exacerbated the serious economic, food security and social problems now rocking numerous countries.” The WTO talks failed in part because India and other developing nations demanded the right to protect their farming sectors against sudden surges in cheap food imports. The Bush administration was attempting to push through rule changes that would have given US corporations greater access to markets in India, China and other nations.