Blockaded Qatar Takes Saudi, UAE to WTO

Of course Qatar knows the WTO. The current [?] WTO negotiations were initiated in the capital of Doha.

I am fascinated with the blockade on Qatar by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, supposedly for supporting "terror." For the country where most 9/11 attackers came from and which has funded fundamentalist education throughout the world, Saudi Arabia is particularly noteworthy. My belief is closer in line with those who believe Qatar acts more as a neutral ground for those wary of Middle East authoritarianism--even if these folks may include Hamas and Hezbollah who have representative offices in Qatar.

There is also the not-so-small issue of broadcast network al-Jazeera, which is widely viewed not just in the region but throughout the world. Its continuous criticism of other GCC countries rankles the others, and I must also point out that Qatar is not entirely faultless in its media coverage. After all, Qatar is just like the rest of them: As yet another absolute monarchy, Qatar is hardly a bastion of democracy. As al-Jazeera viewers would note, Qatar's leaders--who set up the network in the first place--are never criticized.

Having failed so far diplomatically in resolving this dispute--the United States which has bases in Qatar but nonetheless was bashed by Trump as a state sponsor of terror has been of little use--Qatar now turns to international organizations to help its cause:

Qatar has lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation against the “illegal siege” imposed by four Arab neighbours that have accused the Gulf state of sponsoring terrorism. The complaint, lodged with the WTO’s dispute-settlement body, described the embargo as “unprecedented”, accusing Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain of “violating the WTO’s core laws and conventions on trade of goods and services, and trade-related aspects of intellectual property,” the ministry of economy and commerce said in a statement on Monday.

On June 5, the quartet of Arab allies cut off air, sea and land links to their gas-rich neighbour, closing off airspace to Qatar-bound flights, refusing to handle goods bound for the gas-rich state and cutting diplomatic ties. While Qatar has shifted supply chains, bringing in food from Turkey and Iran and using Omani ports, its imports nonetheless slumped 40 per cent in June as the embargo hit home. “The arbitrary measures taken by the siege countries are a clear violation of the provisions and conventions of international trade law,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassem bin Mohammed Al Thani, the minister of economy and commerce. “Furthermore, the illegal siege is unprecedented in the framework of economic blocs.”

The complaint at the ICAO will also mirror the WTO complaints since Qatar has had a very hard time sending and receiving Qatar Airlines and other flights with the likes of UAE closing their airspace to Qatar. While I have little doubt that Qatar's case is a fairly good one against such a wide range of sanctions without apparent cause--especially trade-related ones--you have to wonder: Given that WTO cases are usually resolved over a year's time, will there still be much of a commercial center left of Qatar if things take that long to resolve?

Ultimately, I believe that a diplomatic solution, whoever may broker it, will need to be found. Litigation will only get you so far and may leave a bad aftertaste besides.