The world trade system is at a fork in history's road; WTO members cannot avoid Making a choice. / Take the politically expedient path by putting Doha talks on hold, or / Take the leadership path of engaging constructively and creatively in breaking the deadlock. Published ahead of the 29 April 2011 meeting of WTO members in Geneva, this book argues that if the current deadlock - mainly between the US and China - cannot be broken in 2011, no resolution is likely before 2020. US Congressional politics will be much rougher in 2013 - scared by divisive debates over spending and taxes - and the new Chinese government can hardly afford to start off with major tariff concessions to the US. Think of 2013 as 2011 with less goodwill Internationally, more poisonous politics inside the US, and a Chinese leadership that must prove its toughness. Breaking the deadlock would require an expanded negotiating agenda, but this would add years to the talks. The false promise that it would be harmless to allow Doha to languish for years is deeply dangerous, at best. The authors in this volume - trade experts from across the world - identify the perils of allowing Doha to flounder, and the hard choices governments must make to break the deadlock.

Although the dispute over China's exchange rate regime intensified in the run up to the Seoul G20 Summit, pressures for across-the-board protectionist measures have been contained, for now. The latest data on protectionism, summarised in this Report, show that the countries with large current account surpluses have not been targeted unduly in recent months. In addition to presenting statistics on the resort to protectionism by each G20 member, this Report highlights three other systemic developments: - An acceleration since the summer in tariff-cutting on machinery, parts, and components by numerous developing countries. - Even though the G20 countries have avoided a trade war to date, they continue to impose protectionist measures at 2009's heightened rates. - G20 countries account for 101 of the 141 protectionist measures that have harmed the commercial interests of the most vulnerable nations, namely, the Least Developed Countries. Most of that harm is done by the developing country members of the G20. This Report, the eighth produced by the Global Trade Alert team, will be of interest to analysts, government and international officials, and scholars in the run up to the Seoul G20 summit and beyond.

The Seventh Report of Global Trade Alert, drawing upon over 1200 investigations of state measures, reveals that while 2010 has seen a substantial recovery in world trade, governments have continued to discriminate against foreign commercial interests. Moreover, recovery does not seem to have affected the rate at which governments resort to protectionist measures. One reaction to this finding is to argue that the discrimination cannot be that significant if world trade is recovering so quickly. This Report shows that such a reaction overlooks the fact that many of the largest trading nations have implemented export promotion schemes over the past 12-18 months and that the rebound in world trade has been underwritten by subsidies, cheap access to credit, and tax rebates and exemptions for exporters. These findings highlight that contemporary discrimination against foreign commercial interests need not be commerce-reducing, like the across-the-board tariff increases of the 1930s. The composition of contemporary protectionism is very different from its counterpart in the Great Depression. This Report also has a regional focus on developments in Latin America. Governments in this region have differed markedly in their resort to protectionism and several country studies shed light on the factors responsible. Detailed reports of each nation's resort to protectionism and the harm done by the protectionism of others will further facilitate comparisons within the region.

E-Commerce - A Southern African Perspective approaches the theory and practice of e-commerce from a developing-world perspective. It covers theory, business models, case studies and practical issues such as the digital divide and the law governing e-commerce transactions. State of the art technology such as mobile commerce and its potential in the developing world are also included.

The authors are experienced lecturers on e-commerce and are well qualified to trace developments in this fast-paced field of inquiry. This book is essential reading, for students and practitioners.