9.15.03 | 4:01 p.m. Richard Morrison

More from the BBC on the mixed reactions to the failure in Cancun.

9.15.03 | 3:42 p.m. Richard Morrison

It seems clear now that the goals of the Doha Development Agenda are not to be realized.  That hasn't disappointed everyone, however.  The International Policy Network's Global Freedom to Trade Campaign issued a statement declaring the breakdown on negotiation "an opportunity to push for real free trade."  According to their analysis: "The talks broke down because the EU refused to reform its agricultural subsidies and attempted to foist new non-trade issues into the WTO – as a delaying tactic to avoid discussion of agriculture. But the days when a few thousand farmers in the EU are able to hold the world to ransom are over." Let's hope so.

9.15.03 | 3:23 p.m. Richard Morrison

CEI Senior Fellow Christopher C. Horner has used his WTO experience over the last week to inspire a few segments of John McCaslin's Inside the Beltway column in the Washington Times: "Cancun Wrap" today, "Champagne Copyright" from 9/12, "Mexican Flotilla" on 9/11, and "Card from Cancun" on 9/10.

9.13.03 | 2:09 p.m. | Ivan Osorio
From what I've seen, many local residents aren't enthusiastic about the
closing down of streets and the tight security--and many are blaming them on the anti-globalization protestors. Yesterday, the local newspaper, La Voz
del Caribe, had several stories describing the losses that local business
owners were suffering as a result of the security precautions taken in
response to the threat of disturbances by people the paper described as
"radicals," "extremists," and "vandals." One story reported that LOCAL
owners of foreign franchises were urging police to deploy extra security
after a Pizza Hut was vandalized.  Then today, as I entered the NGO center, I overheard one of the local conference workers say (in Spanish): "They
protest, protest, and protest, but never offer anything constructive."

Yesterday's Voz del Caribe also carried a story announcing the
CEI/ICCS/CORE/CFACT food donation (see previous post). The writer repeated much of our news release, but also attacked CEI and the other participant groups as "corporate fronts." Whoah, we've never heard that one before!

On a positive note: Despite the problems they've endured over the last few
days, the local people of Cancun have been gracious, welcoming, and friendly beyond what anyone had any right to expect. They've been great hosts.

9.13.03 | 10:17 a.m. | Ivan Osorio

Yesterday, CEI, along with the Center for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the Congress for Racial Equality(CORE), and International Consumers for civil Society (ICCS), organized a food donation to a small Mexican village near Cancun. A lot of media came along on the trip--but so did several anti-biotech demonstrators, as we found out when we got there.

We left early in the morning from a hotel in a series of vans, but some of
us--including myself--ended up having to ride in taxis, since some of the
rented vans ended up going straight to the village because traffic and
security precautions due to demonstrators made it impossible for them to get into the hotel zone.

Some of the "media" along for the trip turned out to be Friends of the Earth
activists, who unfulred their banners and started shouting slogans when we
got there. Also along were some members of a Mexican anti-biotech NGO. It
turns out many of them had press credentials. However, we did get some
mainstream press outlets there--BBC and Reuters, to name just a few.

The FoE activists actually were fairly obnoxious, and actually tried to
scare people away from taking the food by telling them it was poisoned!
Hardly any of the villagers listened to this and took the food packages,
which included beans and other local staples.

After a handful of shouting matches, things quieted down, and several of the
FoE activists drove away in a large, gas-guzzling, socially irresponsible
SUV.

One of the anti-biotech demonstrators rode in the same taxi as I. I asked
her to pose with her banner, and she politely obliged (photo upcoming).

An interesting postscript: The food packages were handed out in clear
plastic bags, and the most visible item in each bag was a large box of
Kellogg's corn flakes, available at any local grocery store here. A Tech
Central Station reporter told us that the FoE protestors were calling the
Corn Flakes "pig food." Then, this morning at breakfast (Many of the FoE
people along on the trip are staying at our same hotel), it struck me that
they weren't making any fuss about the corn flakes served there as part of
the complimentary breakfast.

Today, Consumer Alert hosted an event on biotech featuring CEI's Greg Conko and Dean Kleckner of Truth About Trade, and some people from the Mexican anti-biotech NGO that crashed the food delivery event showed up at this. They were quite civil on this occasion, and actually videotaped the event. Their cameraman--who had pro-quality equipment--at one point walked out and came back with a can of Coca-Cola..

9.12.03 | 5:08 p.m. | Ted Sullivan

Ari and I arrived here Wednesday afternoon, a few days after the rest of our party. So far it has been really interesting dealing with hotel issues and the fact that we do not yet have security passes. Security for the most part has been tight with Federales in riot gear blocking the two major roads in, self-important hotel security guards, and two amphibious landing ships anchored off the coast. Fortunately we have been able to talk our way past every security point that we have needed.

The last few days have consisted primarily of running odd jobs to keep our operation running here. This consisted of posting blogs, tracking down media adapters so that we can post pictures, and scrounging for paper. To everyone's amusement, the conference ran out of paper on the second day. Apparently, more has been ordered, but the NGO community is definitely running short.

This morning (Friday), Ari and I went out to Valle Verde, a small, desperately impoverished village about 10km outside Cancun. The organizations that we accompanied, CEI, ICCS, CFACT, and CORE brought with them a donation of 2000 lbs of food for the hungry villagers. I fully expected that these villagers would be highly grateful for the victuals, but I did not expect the media circus that followed. Prominent media such as Reuters, AP, Washington Post, and BBC International were all present as well as publications from both the left and right. What was most unfortunate was that we were swarmed immediately by the media and members of various leftist NGO's that asked questions and challenged our donation of some genetically modified food. Amidst all this, shocked and hungry villagers stood in line patiently and waited for food. After it had all been distributed a number of radicals began screaming in Spanish that the food was contaminated. Facing a direct assault, one village woman reluctantly surrendered her food to one of a dozen others squabbling for it. Shortly thereafter, ideological debating over GM turned into a shouting match that rolled from one cluster of people to the next. Hopefully, these organizations will be able to continue distributing locally purchased GM foods over the following months and years. *See Pictures Section*

Ari and I, however, have still not set foot on the beach…but that's for tomorrow.

9.12.03 | 5:02 p.m. | Fred L. Smith, Jr.

The hotel at which I'm staying (the Gran Caribe Real) is about a mile away from the convention center. Ironically (or perhaps appropriately) the two areas are divided by a stretch of private homes – and that division is highly relevant to the deliberations here at the WTO meeting. CEI's efforts to advance individual liberty must contend with the major threat posed by collectivist utopian NGOs.

One example is the organization among developing nations of a new block – the G-21 (group of 21 nations). The G-21 argues first things first – the EU and America should eliminate their anti-trade policies (subsidies, anti-dumping, and so forth). In dollar terms, these are clearly the dominant trade distortions in the world today. The EU subsidy programs alone are estimated to constitute almost 90 percent of all trade distortions. U.S. subsidies represent most of the rest. The economic losses associated with third-world protectionist policies are rather small in absolute dollar amount.

Once the developed world has its house in order, the G-21 argues, it will be time to consider how to dismantle the protectionist policies of their nations. Nothing surprising about this – everyone is willing for others to do brave things. But, of course, in today's highly politicized world, trade policy is political policy. And politicians of all nations pay far more attention to their highly organized producer interests – and far less attention to the diffuse consumer voice. And, in that world, this first things first strategy may well lead to no trade improvements at all.

Indeed, the G-21 may be viewed – naïve or Machiavellian – as the start of a trade war between producer interests around the world. G-21 seems to represent the interests of Big Businesses (largely but not totally agricultural) in the poorer nations against the interests of Bigger Businesses (largely but not totally agricultural) in the wealthier nations. The G-21 sees themselves as a third-world David fighting it out with the US/EU Goliath. Good theater, bad politics.

In the David/Goliath story, after all, the stones thrown it only the combatants. In the trade wars that might follow a collapse of the WTO, the stones will hit consumers around the world. Producer voices in the developing world seem willing and able to impose the costs of protectionism on their citizenry. This reflects the sad reality that the power of consumer groups in the developed world – weak as they are – are still smaller than the relative power of consumers in the developing world. The G-21 speaks for producers but it is the consumers who will bear the pain if they succeed in derailing trade liberalization.

One can sympathize with the G-21 organizers – the arrogance and resistance of producer groups in rich nations is appalling. The EU, for example, subsidizes cows at an annual rate higher than the annual income of over one billion people in Africa , Asia and South America . But, the G-21 runs the risk of seeking a Bridge too far. War is, after all, horrible but in war we normally seek to harm the citizens of our enemies. Trade wars are even more horrific – each nation inflicts harm on its own citizens! Moreover, small businesses have rarely prevailed – alone – against bigger businesses in the political arena. The likelihood of the G-21 coalition producing good results is even less likely – far more likely is that they will simply succeed in stymieing all hopes of further trade liberalization.

The G-21 would be better advised to align themselves with the consumers in the developed world – seeking to strengthen the free trade forces in the U.S. and the EU. An even better plan would be for the exporting groups in both the developed and the developing world to align with the emerging coalition of policy and consumer groups throughout the world now championing open trade. The voices of the peoples of the world have great moral authority – as evidenced by the fact that the anti-globalization forces at Cancun receive great deference. Their policies are profoundly anti-poor yet – being the only group that has yet sought to mobilize this constituency – they have great saliency in the media. Their claims that the poor love their poverty, that they reject modernity, are false and destructive. Still, if that is the only developed world voice heard, it may prevail. The challenge of the free market movement is to mobilize the consumers of the world in a better cause.

9.12.03 | 4:45 p.m. | Myron Ebell

Reading the Miami Herald's special WTO edition distributed free every morning in Cancun has informed and amused me more than most of the events in this colossally dismal beach resort (I might not be so negative if it weren't so humid). On Thursday the Herald published an op-ed by two IMF economists, Arvind Subramanian and Shang-Jin Wei, which summarizes their IMF study on the effects of joining the WTO for poor countries. They found that the positive effects for economic growth were much stronger in those countries that joined without many of the special protectionist deals called “special and differential treatment”. The countries that had to drop many of their trade barriers when they joined the WTO are growing much faster than those that were allowed to keep their barriers higher than the standard WTO-agreed tariff levels. There is a lesson here.

On Friday the Herald published a news commentary on global warming, from which I've learned that some researchers have discovered a strong correlation between increasing surface temperatures and the rapidly increasing number of women in menopause. They suggest that hot flashes cause menopause. This is clearly a joke, but the news commentator wasn't quite sure whether it was a joke. I don't think that's because he is stupid, but because reporters have become so habituated to reporting junk science claims that show some correlation between causally-unrelated phenomena as significant. They have been scared by the environmental propaganda machine into not asking skeptical questions.

Fred Smith, my fearless leader, who is sitting right next to me and is writing his blog at a computer in the NGO Centre here at the Hotel Sierra Cancun, has just announced that he is about to faint because it's 3 PM and we didn't have time for lunch. Apparently, he hasn't noticed another cause. The WTO has cleverly put the NGO Centre in an area of the hotel that doesn't have air conditioning. The lack of air conditioning has two positive effects. The heat and incredible humidity rob the lefty NGO activists of their energy. And it allows them to live in harmony with nature, thereby comforting them morally while they sweat.

9.11.03 | 12:49 p.m. | Ivan Osorio

PRINTED flyer picked up at the NGO Center: "Global Movilization Week Cancun. Derial the WTO!" Also, "Derial" is in big block letters almost half an inch tall.

9.11.03 | 11:49 a.m. | Liz Jones

The alternative to the WTO meeting, hosted by Jose Bove in France's hazelnut capital.

9.10.03 | 6:42 p.m. | Ivan Osorio

Upon arrival in Cancun, the far Left made its presence felt. A flyer for a
"Fair Trade Fair" was left on the seat next to me on the bus that picked us
up from the airport (but failed to reach our hotel; see previous Osorio
entry); and at the NGO credential pickup center, a table was full of flyers
from Public Citizen and Third World Network. Then at the hotel, a sign on the registration counter welcomed Friends of the Earth to the Holiday Inn Express, and later last night and this morning folks with slovenly clothes and lots of piercings could be seen throughout the hotel. This would make for a great ad campaign: "Anti-globalization protestors prefer Holiday Inn!"

This afternoon, Consumer Alert, Consumers for World Trade, Asociacion de Consumidores Libres (Costa Rica) held a successful event on the effect of trade barriers on consumers. It was well-attended, and attendees were generally receptive. The forum concluded with testimony from a New Zealand dairy farmer, who congratulated the participants for their work on behalf of open trade, because he and other farmers in New Zealand are better off than they've ever been thanks to economic liberalization in New Zealand.

9.10.03 | 6:09 p.m. | Fred L. Smith, Jr.

There's something ironic about representatives of over 140 nations around the world meeting to discuss open trade in a luxury resort. As protectionists (many) and free traders (too few) discuss the details of the evolving efforts to expand (or restrict) global commerce, they are fed, housed and entertained by thousands of Mexican workers whose very existence depends upon tourism – much of it by non-Mexican nationals. To witness thousands of young idealists from the United States, Europe and Asia argue fiercely about the risks of economic and technological growth. Wouldn't it be better, they argue, to slow this process to ensure more “orderly” adaptation. Can't we have the benefits of trade without the “destructive storms of competition?”

Perhaps, but that outcome is made far less likely by the various mercantlistic “adjustments” that many seek in fleshing out the details in the Doha Round. Indeed, the USTR itself has been far too sympathetic to the utopian demands of those who would have the best be the enemy of the good. The WTO meeting itself is a multi-ring circus dominated (in numbers but not moral and intellectual fervor) by those seeking various forms of linkages (trade, yes; but only if our trading partners meet our standards for democracy, human rights, environmental protection, religious freedom, labor rights and a host of other noble but non-trade related goals). We may agree or disagree with their objectives, but it is clear that freighting trade with these non-trade values will make trade expansion even more difficult than ever.

But the debate is slowly changing. Voices from the developing world are becoming ever more vocal in arguing that economic liberalization is the first and most important step out of poverty. One example of that shift was a panel held on Consumers' Interests in Open Trade sponsored by Consumer Alert, Consumers for World Trade and the Association de Consumidores Libres. Speakers focused on the reality that the victims of trade wars are the citizens of the trading states. What might be done to create off-setting political pressures that would improve the prospects for pro-trade, pro-consumer policies?

The panel discussed the public-choice problem: the interests that are disrupted by trade are often concentrated; the interests that benefit from open trade are dispersed. The result is a weak political voice for free trade. This problem is exacerbated as self-appointed guardians of the poor of the world – the modern NGO movement – put forward Green Uncle Toms to advance protectionism. But that situation is changing as free market groups around the world link together to advance the egalitarian case for trade. There is much to do but the world is changing – and the winds are now blowing weakly but surely toward freedom.

9.10.03 | 5:36 p.m. | Chris Horner

"The day dawns and I admire the rolling azure lapping at the appalling squalor -- kidding, actually the embarassingly opulence of the Cancun Ritz.  Lo, but the horizon yields what I understand to be the a large chunk of Mexico's Gulf Fleet...40 watercraft, mostly swift PT-style interceptors but also including what appear to be 3 sufficiently armed frigates.  Accompanying the flotilla is a large salvage vessel (presumably out of optimism though, admittedly rusty on my history of Mexican naval engagements, it may merely be a prudent measure).

Whom or what do they await?  Onward, Greenpeace soldiers, sailing as to war.  That's right, the Greenpeace's "Rainbow Warrior" -- flagship to the horde of Rainbow Worriers and one of the few non-French vessels actually scuttled by the French military this century -- is rumored to be steaming, wait, sailing natch, toward a mooring, and subsequent protest-related antics, off the Cancun Centro de Convenciones.  Or else for the Rolling Rock special at Senor Frog's.  Developing..."

9.10.03 | 5:19 p.m. | Liz Jones

Ron Bailey's article in Reason.  Mr. Bailey is in Cancun covering the events for HACER. 

9.10.03 | 4:35 p.m. | Richard Morrison

Tech Central Station's Nick Schulz has a piece in National Review Online today on the threats posed by environmental linkages in trade negotiations and amphibious activists, filed from the pillowy sands in front of the Ritz-Carlton. 

9.10.03 | 3:57 p.m. | Liz Jones

The BBC provides great snapshots of protests from around the world.  I don't know which one is my favorite ...

9.10.03 | 2:39 p.m. | Richard Morrison

I wonder how Mexican police officers feel about the most recent report from Amnesty International.  Fearing that anti-WTO protestors might be mistreated by local law enforcement, the group put together a top ten list of things not to do if you, as a police officer, are confronted with dissent.  Some are standard advice from a human rights group, such as "Do not use force except when strictly necessary" and "Avoid using force when policing unlawful but non-violent assemblies."  Others, such as "Do not carry out, order or cover up extrajudicial executions" will hopefully be unnecessary.

9.10.03 | 2:09 p.m. | Richard Morrison

CNSNews's Marc Morano has a good story today about eco-imperialism and the sustainable development agenda.  He quotes liberally from Leon Louw, of South Africa's Free Market Foundation and Barun Mitra of the Liberty Institute in New Delhi.

9.10.03 | 1:59 p.m. | Richard Morrison

See also Washington Post editorial columnist Anne Applebaum's amusing column on this week's WTO protests and the decline of the anti-capitalist movement:  "An economic downturn is bad for anti-globalist groups, which are dependent on the capitalist system not only for the computers they use to organize their protests and for the deregulated airlines they use to get there but for the funds, from individuals, corporations and even governments, that they live on."

9.10.03 | 11:51 a.m.| Liz Jones

Please read today's editorial in the Washington Post entitled The Task at Cancun.

9.9.03 | 8:42 p.m. | Ivan Osorio

Fred, Fran, and I arrived in Cancun today, and it took what seemed like
forever for us to get to our hotel. The buses intended to take conference
attendees to their hotels were running in an apparent haphazard manner. I hope they get the transportation logistics together. After over an hour in
one such bus, we got off, took a cab, and got to our hotels in a decent
time. Security seems to be tight in preparation for the conference. Steel
barricades line the streets and federal police are present throughout
Cancun. Our cab driver apologized for the heavy security, and said that
Cancun isn't usually like that. He mentioned that protesters were already in town as of last Saturday (September 6), and that some of them actually got naked in public.

9.9.03 | 4:10 p.m. | Richard Morrison

The Associated Press reviews where the major WTO players on lining up on agriculture policy as negotiations are poised to begin.

9.9.03 | 10:35 a.m. | Richard Morrison

The BBC News site also has a page devoted to trade coverage, including a poll question: "Will free trade benefit the world's poor?"  Currently the count is running against reality with only a 34.5% affirmative response - go vote now.

9.9.03 | 9:51 a.m. | Richard Morrison

One of the single best sources for coverage of action in Cancún is going to be the team from Tech Central Station, which has already gethered dozens of commentary pieces, research materials, and news items on its dedicated WTO site. They're currently featuring pieces from Roger Bate and Richard Tren of Africa Fighting Malaria, Carlos Ball of AIPE, and former Australian trade official Alan Oxley.

9.9.03 | 9:12 a.m. | Richard Morrison
The Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Oregon has published a new paper on trade by Cato's Tom Palmer to coincide with the WTO Ministerial.  The paper, adapted from a recent presentation to students at Portland State University, debunks popular myths of globalization and explains how open trade spreads global prosperity.  A second paper by Environmental Policy Director John A. Charles details "The Environmental Benefits of Globalization."  Cascade also suggests a visit to the group A World Connected, which is dedicated to "Celebrating global exchange, opportunity, and human freedom."

9.8.03 | 4:23 p.m. | Richard Morrison

Other free market groups participating in the at the Cancún meeting include Consumer Alert and Consumers for World Trade of Washington, D.C. La Asociación de Consumidores Libres of Costa Rica and the International Policy Network, based in London.

9.8.03 | 3:26 p.m. | Richard Morrison

The Competitive Enterprise Institute policy team will be on the ground at the Fifth WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico to monitor negotiations and speak on behalf of free markets.  More information and local contact numbers available at CEI's website.