Those were the days

Why has the Doha round of trade talks dragged on for almost a decade? Trade economists might forward all manner of complex analyses but Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar had a simple and tongue-in-cheek explanation. In the 1960s and 1970s, he told a gathering of industry executives, negotiators used to get together in a room, sip a glass of whiskey, smoke a cigar and sign an agreement on their way out. “Sorry guys, in the world of 2011 this is not possible,” he concluded.