Developing Country Coalitions in Multilateral Trade Negotiations

The report analyzes the evolution of developing country participation in multilateral trade from the GATT era to the WTO, highlighting a shift from passive reliance on Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) to the formation of proactive, issue-based coalitions. It identifies a 'first-division' of developing countries—led by China, India, Brazil, and South Africa—that increasingly drive negotiations, most notably through the G20 coalition focused on agricultural protection. The authors argue that the WTO's negotiating mechanism is currently malfunctioning due to 'UN-isation' and regulatory overload, suggesting that future success depends on a core group of approximately 30 major trading nations focusing on market access while providing generous S&D to the least-developed countries.

• The WTO's negotiating mechanism has severely malfunctioned since the late 1990s due to increased regulatory complexity, the 'legalisation' of dispute settlement, and a 'UN-isation' process where a vast expansion of membership has made decision-making 'unwieldy and snail-like'.
• The G20 emerged as a pivotal one-issue coalition at the Cancun ministerial, primarily targeting developed country agricultural protection and pressuring for liberalisation as a precondition for its own market openings.
• China is characterized as a 'system-maintaining' actor with a strong market access focus, having made extensive WTO commitments that often rival those of developed countries, making it less interested in 'Third World solidarity' than in securing export advantages.
• India is identified as the most protectionist of the developing country majors, often acting as a 'chief obstacle' to South-South market access negotiations due to its defensive positions on S&D, implementation, and the Singapore issues.
• Brazil has transitioned from a defensive import-substitution strategy to a pragmatic approach, using the G20 and Cairns Group to trade off defensive positions on industrial goods for offensive gains in agricultural market access.
• South Africa's strategy in the WTO is driven more by geopolitical alignment with other developing majors than by agricultural interests, as it prioritizes market access for intermediate manufacturing and services.
• The authors propose a two-tier negotiating structure where a core group of 30+ countries (representing 90% of trade and FDI) makes key decisions informally, while the remaining 100+ developing countries receive generous S&D and 'duty- and quota-free access' without being forced to reciprocate.

APA

Draper, P., & Sally, R. (2005). Developing Country Coalitions in Multilateral Trade Negotiations. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/8-SAIIA-Trade-Report-No.-8.pdf

Chicago

Draper, Peter, and Razeen Sally. Developing Country Coalitions in Multilateral Trade Negotiations. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2005. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/8-SAIIA-Trade-Report-No.-8.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Draper |first1=Peter |last2=Sally |first2=Razeen |title=Developing Country Coalitions in Multilateral Trade Negotiations |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=2005 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/8-SAIIA-Trade-Report-No.-8.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{draper2005developing, author = {Draper, Peter and Sally, Razeen}, title = {{Developing Country Coalitions in Multilateral Trade Negotiations}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2005}, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/8-SAIIA-Trade-Report-No.-8.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }