Frozen Trade

Upon landing at the New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, Roberto Azevedo, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), got the first shock of his trip. The airline misplaced his bags. Azevedo, who had come from Geneva to attend an informal meeting of the WTO on March 19 20, had to buy some clothes before getting on to the discussions among WTO members at a time when the US and China are erecting newer trade barriers and free trade is under siege from countries preferring to go solo or in small groups rather than follow the rule based global trading system that the WTO represents. The ominous background of the talks a global trade war triggered by the US move to slap tariffs on at least $50 billion Chinese imports, its warning to both India and China on high tariffs and