World Trade Talks Fail, Threatening a New Era of Protectionism ; BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Beginning of article

The world was on the brink of a fresh outbreak of trade wars and protectionism yesterday after five years of fraught negotiation over a new trade deal ended in failure.

Hopes that a new agreement would create $300bn of wealth and drag millions of people out of poverty were in tatters after a meeting of the major powers dissolved into bitter acrimony.

Last-ditch talks between the six most powerful trading blocs collapsed after they failed to strike a deal to slash farm subsidies, the issue that has threatened to sink the talks since they were launched in 2001.

The failure opens the way to an increase in trade wars and protectionism that will slow economic …