For Peter Mandelson, the chief trade negotiator of the 27-nation European Union (EU), 2007 was a difficult year. He had hoped to complete much of the Doha Development Round by the end of 2007, so that it could be finalised in the new year. But once President Bush's fast track authority expired in mid-2007, the political will to reach an agreement disappeared. The WTO-sponsored negotiations will drift, in all likelihood, until the US Congress can be persuaded to grant President Bush's successor the fast track authority, under which the country's lawmakers must accept or reject any agreement reached in the Doha Round as it stands. They cannot, in short, support only those provisions acceptable to them.
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