Putin talks trade in Brussels

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is in Brussels now talking to EU leaders about, among other things, Russia’s long-awaited accession to the World Trade Organization. When Putin talks about the WTO, there’s always the potential for mischief. He has seemed much less committed to the project than President Medvedev, and this quote is ominous: The ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is in Brussels now talking to EU leaders about, among other things, Russia's long-awaited accession to the World Trade Organization. When Putin talks about the WTO, there's always the potential for mischief. He has seemed much less committed to the project than President Medvedev, and this quote is ominous:

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is in Brussels now talking to EU leaders about, among other things, Russia’s long-awaited accession to the World Trade Organization. When Putin talks about the WTO, there’s always the potential for mischief. He has seemed much less committed to the project than President Medvedev, and this quote is ominous:

The European Union is expecting fruitful discussions with Putin, EU Moscow envoy Fernando Valenzuela said last week, marking a "substantial positive improvement" in the 27-member bloc’s relations with Russia.

However, Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov said on Monday the discussion between Putin and his European partners could be possibly "unpleasant."

There’s plenty of ground to be covered still in Russia’s long and circuitous march toward the WTO, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Putin says something impolitic about tariffs, subsidies, or other tough trade issues.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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