THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- December 11, 2017- Topic 2

Crunch time at WTO

As leaders at the World Trade Organisation’s 11th biennial Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires seek to define the future contours of multilateral global trade, the challenges the U.S. has mounted on the institution are impossible to ignore. Notable among the proposals trade ministers will consider are those relating to new rules on farm subsidies, the elimination of support for unsustainable fisheries, and the regulation of e-commerce. 

With the backing of more than 100 countries, a joint proposal from India and China to eliminate the most trade-distorting farm subsidies worth $160 billion in several industrialised economies is arguably the most contentious agenda item at the Ministerial. The two countries see this as a prerequisite to address the prevailing imbalance in the Agreement on Agriculture, which unfairly benefits developed countries. But host Argentina has cautioned that the joint proposal could potentially unravel negotiations. Lending credence to such scepticism is the lukewarm stance the U.S. has adopted towards the WTO over the past year, suggesting that the Ministerial meet should serve as a forum for reflection rather than to shape substantive agreements. The other major dispute centres on finding a so-called permanent solution to the large subsidies that underpin public stock-holding programmes to bolster food security in the developing world. The G-33 coalition — which includes Indonesia, China and India — seeks a complete exemption from commitments to reduce subsidies, such as minimum support prices, from this poverty-alleviation programme. New Delhi has declined to negotiate any more trade-offs on this proposal at Buenos Aires, or accept calls for stringent transparency requirements to monitor these schemes. The EU and Brazil have expressed broad support for the G-33 coalition’s position on public stock-holding programmes. But in return they seek agreement on their own proposal to reduce trade-distorting subsidies on a percentage basis, in both advanced and developing economies.

The existential crisis facing the WTO is heightened by U.S. President Donald Trump’s combative approach to the multilateral institutional framework. Washington has been exploring an alternative, unilateral route away from the formal dispute resolution mechanism of the Geneva-based body to settle perceived and real trade conflicts with partners. It has blocked fresh appointments to fill vacancies on the seven-member WTO appellate body. The risk of Mr. Trump’s protectionist rhetoric translating into economic barriers remains real. The response to that challenge is to make the gains of globalisation more visible and its transient downsides politically less painful. Trade leaders gathered in Buenos Aires can ill-afford to lose sight of this imperative.

Vocabulary

Biennial: taking place every other year.

Example: Summit meetings are normally biennial

Contour: an outline, especially one representing or bounding the shape or form of something.

Example: She traced the contours of his face with her finger

Synonyms: outline, shape, form, lines, curves, figure, silhouette, profile

Mounted: organize and initiate a campaign or other significant course of action.

Example: The company had successfully mounted takeover bids

Synonyms: organize, stage, prepare, arrange, set up, launch, set in motion

Contentious: causing or likely to cause an argument.

Example: A contentious issue

Synonyms: controversial, disputable, debatable, disputed, open to debate

Prevail: prove more powerful than opposing forces.

Example: It is hard for logic to prevail over emotion

Synonyms: win, win out/through, triumph, be victorious, carry the day

Unravel: investigate and solve or explain something complicated or puzzling.

Example: They were attempting to unravel the cause of death

Synonyms: solve, resolve, clear up, puzzle out, unscramble, get to the bottom of

Credence: belief in or acceptance of something as true.

Example: Psychoanalysis finds little credence among laymen

Synonyms: belief, faith, trust, confidence, reliance

Substantive: having a firm basis in reality and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable.

Example: There is no substantive evidence for the efficacy of these drugs

Alleviation: the action or process of making suffering, deficiency, or a problem less severe.

Example: Peace, security, and the alleviation of poverty were high on the agenda

Perceive: become aware or conscious of something.

Example: His mouth fell open as he perceived the truth

Synonyms: discern, recognize, become aware of, see, distinguish, realize, grasp

Rhetoric: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.

Example: Born into a rich provincial family, he studied philosophy as well as rhetoric and law.

Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, command of language, way with words

Afford: have enough money to pay for.

Example: The best that I could afford was a first-floor room

Synonyms: pay for, bear the expense of, have the money for, spare the price of

Imperative: giving an authoritative command; peremptory.

Example: The bell pealed again, a final imperative call

Synonyms: peremptory, commanding, imperious, authoritative, masterful