On May 7, 2008, Schwab, the US trade representative, said that the Bush administration hoped to complete the Doha Round negotiations before the expiry of January 2009. As part of the agreement, the advanced developing countries such as Brazil, China and India must open their markets.

Schwab said that in 2008, members of the WTO had the chance to reach an agreement. If they miss it, the uncertainty of the agreement will be postponed.

"If it is not completed in 2008, it will be impossible to complete in 2009 and 2010 because of the change in the US government and the reasons for the change of EU leadership and other unpredictable reasons."

Schwab said the core organizations of the United States, Brazil, the European Union and other countries are working to resolve differences in negotiations.

Schwab also said that the Doha round would not be as effective as the bilateral free trade agreement. "When we talked about the Doha round, we talked about trade in 2015, 2020 and 2025."