Guy de Jonquieres thrashes “competitive liberalization” enthusiasts:

The Doha debacle has exposed that theory for what it is. In practice, bilateralism has fed off itself, intensifying the rush into preferential deals while draining energy from the Doha talks, polarising the US Congress and further diminishing its appetite for trade initiatives of all descriptions.

The belief that faster progress can be made in regional groupings than in the World Trade Organisation also defies abundant evidence to the contrary. Apec’s dreams of freeing by 2020 trade and investment in the Pacific rim remain dreams. Plans for a free trade area of the Americas are moribund. South America’s Mercosur is in trouble, as are its talks on closer links with the European Union. Disputes between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have dogged their efforts to implement even limited liberalisation. South Asia’s plans for a customs union look like a joke, as they exclude trade between India and Pakistan. Regionalism’s only big successes are the EU and the North American Free Trade Agreement – and the former is too sui generis to be replicable.