European Union counts the cost of failure to reach deal

EUROPE was today counting the cost of the failure of the WTO Doha round against a background of growing concern over the global economy.

While farmers in most EU countries were jubilant, business and industry were crestfallen and warning that consumers and the economy generally were the losers.

The European Commission estimated a deal would have brought an additional $100 billion (€64bn) worth of trade into the global economy from agriculture to services.