Chad Bown, of Brookings and Brandeis, proposes a bold move:

[T]he United States needs to take a stand by halting all of its remaining bilateral trade negotiations as a step towards a good-faith effort to rekindle the multilateral Doha negotiations. This action would signal leadership and commitment to successfully pursuing and completing the Doha round, which holds the greatest potential for substantial increases in well-being both at home and abroad.

I recommend reading the full piece, in which Bown attacks recent US trade policy efforts as anti-China maneuvers. He gives no quarter to the US-Korea FTA, characterizing it as a policy discriminating against Chinese imports rather than freeing trade.

Would Bown’s proposal suceed in rejuvenating the Doha round? Informal meetings over the last couple months haven’t produced any new momentum, and yesterday’s announcement of a new deadline (end of 2007) does little to inspire confidence in the DDA’s vitality. It may take something quite radical to revive it.

Update: Corrected spelling of Bown. I regret the error.