Reviving the WTO: Five Priorities for Liberalization
February 23, 2021
James Bacchus
Established in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was the culmination of half a century of global trade liberalization achieved under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Subsequent agreements to achieve further liberalization ― and to establish rules for emerging forms of crossborder trade and investment ― were among the expectations of WTO members from the outset. But very little in the way of agreements on new rules has been achieved in the quarter century since the WTO’s founding, and today the institution is facing an existential crisis.
Discord among members over a variety of matters; mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship; differences over definitions, priorities, and expectations; and the general absence of a requisite sense of urgency have left the organization in a state of paralysis. The failure to reach any new multilateral or other agreements ― or even to agree on next steps at the conclusion of the last Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in 2017 ― left many wondering if the end of the WTO was in sight.
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