Fight Over Comma Sank WTO Deal as India Protects Food Stocks

A fight over a comma in a 65-page document helped spark the collapse of the biggest trade deal in the World Trade Organization’s 19-year history.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-month-old government blocked part of the deal his predecessor helped reach in Bali last year as a midnight deadline passed. India wanted changes to the text that would guarantee it could indefinitely protect the world’s biggest food subsidy program, according to two senior officials in Modi’s government who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.