Anyone who has read the recent pronouncement by the usually optimistic Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, cannot help but conclude that there is no longer the global political will to deliver an all-embracing deal on trade liberalisation.

In an apparent recognition of this and the danger that he sees for the WTO and its rules led approach to global trade, Mr Lamy last week urged trade diplomats to reflect on their inability to complete the round, and to return after their long summer break prepared for what he described as an “adult conversation,” ahead of a planned ministerial meeting on December 15.  “What we are seeing today is the paralysis in the negotiating function of the WTO, whether it is on market access or on the rule-making,” he told the WTO’s Trade Negotiations Committee.

Mr Lamy’s remarks were made in the context of the failure of WTO members to agree even a limited trade deal that would have benefited the…..