Those figures found a ready place in almost every news report about the Doha round that autumn.
That the White House sees little need for a heavyweight in the trade job suggests it is sceptical about the Doha round, reluctant to push controversial bilateral deals and in no mood to try to convince Congress to extend the Trade Promotion Authority, which expires in June 2007.
There are already doubts about the new Doha round, with questions being asked about the lack of progress since it was launched.
In the summer of 2001, the prospects of launching a new trade round were dim, with huge divisions about what the Doha agenda should cover.
Even now, amid deep pessimism about ever finishing Doha, the Indian government is holding a summit of trade ministers in the hope of restarting the talks.
And that's why I spoke very frankly to my G20 partners today about the prospects of the Doha Round.
All this could, in turn, revive other bilateral disputes, subdued during the Doha talks: about unlawful tax concessions for American companies and about the EU's refusal to import genetically modified crops.
Together they brought about a new round of global trade talks in Doha last November.
ECONOMIST: Great stuff, but does it have the president's support?
Still smarting from what they regarded as unfair treatment in the earlier Uruguay round of trade talks which were concluded in 1994, they moaned about the iniquities of past trade deals and focused on minimising their responsibilities in the Doha round.
At Doha, the parties to CITES will have to decide whether ICCAT is serious about sticking to scientific advice in future, or if, when the threat to its authority has been removed, it will be back to business as usual.
He urged them to press India's case in the Doha round of global trade talks and called on them to carry India's concerns about terrorism to the world stage.
ECONOMIST: What India wants from its brethren abroad, and vice versa
Washington and Wall Street have been talking about corporate tax reform for years, but the outcome of that debate has proven no better than the Doha Round on farm trade subsidies at the WTO.
In answering my question to the cochairs about what specific action they want governments to take, he mentioned the importance of getting a successful completion of the Doha round.
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