In the WSJ today (subscribers only), the director-general of the WTO is still cracking me up. He describes the importance of global trade talks going on this week. Failure to make progress could throw the current round of WTO negotiations off kilter. His final sentences:

Governments know what needs to be done, and they know that any agreements reached this week will make their job in the autumn that much easier. It all comes down to determination and guts. Do WTO negotiators have what it takes?

Sounds important, no? Well, these lines are immediately preceded by this one: “Following the European summer break, negotiators will have but three short months to prepare for Hong Kong.” In other words, these trade talks are really important, but the whole world needs to hit the pause button while the Europeans have a jaunt at the beach.