Rushing to Finish a Global Free-Trade Deal

On paper, big, ambitious free-trade deals are the best kind. The more countries that agree to open their markets, the greater the benefits to consumers. But there’s a catch: If big trade deals try to include too many countries or take on too many issues, the negotiations can collapse under the weight of thousands of pages of details. Just look at what happened to the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization. That attempt to lower trade barriers worldwide began in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar in 2001—and sputtered to an inglorious halt in 2011 after India, Brazil, and South Africa deadlocked over the fine print with the U.S. and Western Europe.

The U.S. and eight other nations now negotiating a new free-trade agreement hope to avoid a similar fate. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the most ambitious free-trade deal ever—and thus is at high risk of getting Doha’ed.