The following article may now be read ‘after the fact’ in the context of the UNCLOS/LOST.
 
Zoellick recognized how the EU wishes to ‘widen’ the WTO by bringing in every OTHER NON-TRADE issue possible, primarily ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.  The UNCLOS would serve this purpose given its binding dispute settlement mechanism and its relationship to all of the multilateral environmental treaties.
 
Here is an important excerpt:

Unleashing the Trade Winds:
A Building-block Approach

By Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick
United States Trade Representative
 
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/0803/ijpe/pj81zoellick.htm

... Europe as partner

As one African minister told me recently, when the United States and the EU agree on a course in the WTO, we cannot ensure success, but we make it much more likely. Fortunately, I have no doubt that my respected and close colleague Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner, is just as committed to completing the Doha negotiation on time.

The United States and the EU share a common aim of trade liberalization, but have pursued different approaches. In the lexicon of the EU, the United States is pressing to "deepen" the WTO by freeing trade across the core agenda of market access. The EU's distinguishing agenda is to "widen" the WTO mandate by developing new rules to cover more topics. As one Asian colleague observed, the EU sees the world through the lens of recent European experience: it wants gradually to achieve a supranational system of governance for globalization. Yet many developing countries have no wish to add new topics to the WTO, believing our priority should be to spur more trade and investment. There is a risk that the EU will trade off cuts in barriers in order to add rules and institutions.

At Doha, the United States helped bridge the gap between "deepeners" and "wideners" because the EU needs progress on its broader agenda to achieve movement on agriculture, which is critical for many developing countries. The United States will continue to work to accommodate the EU's objectives, as long as the EU is committed to liberalizing trade in agriculture, goods and services. We need to ensure that any new negotiating topics and rules enhance free markets, strengthen transparency in the WTO and facilitate trade, while respecting the prerogatives of sovereign states. Another European perspective might also be borne in mind -- Hayek's "spontaneous order," which advises that rules should be forged first through markets, rather than through government controls.

... Yet any decision by the WTO requires a consensus among its 144 members. Any one country -- for whatever political or economic reason -- can stop the Doha agenda in its tracks. We will not passively accept a veto over America's drive to open markets. We want to encourage reformers who favor free trade. If others do not want to move forward, the United States will move ahead with those who do.

Good Neighbor Committee
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info@goodneighborlaw.com

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