Within days of the collapse of the talks, leaders in Latin America, Asia and Europe began expanding their regional trade agreements in order to reduce their dependence on the U.S. market. Clinton administration officials remain hopeful that the WTO will move quickly to resurrect the trade talks, but few others are optimistic, and many fear that the U.S. is headed into a more protectionist, isolationist era.
See "WTO Failure Spurs Regional Alliances at U.S.'s Expense", Evelyn Iritani, Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1999