Avoiding a requiem for the WTO

As the only global international organisation dealing with the
rules of trade between nations, the World Trade Organisation
should be the place where governments sort out the trade problems
they face with each other. However, in recent years, WTO members
have not managed to conclude new agreements to liberalise trade
in goods and services. The organisation has not played a
significant role in defusing and addressing the trade conflict
between the US and China. It was also largely ‘missing in action’
during the first stages of the global COVID-19 pandemic.



All these lead to the conclusion that reform is necessary –
whether the political will exists to re engage multilaterally and
pursue it is another question. In this live podcast, Giuseppe
Porcaro and Niclas Poitiers are joined by Bernard Hoekman,
Professor and Director of Global Economics at the Robert Schuman
Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute in
Florence; Petros C. Mavroidis, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Law
at Columbia Law School in New York and Anna Dias, Lawyer and
partner at Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris. Together they discuss
what areas of reform the WTO should prioritise, and what
challenges it would face.



Revelant Publications:


China and the WTO: Why Multilateralism Still Matters, Book by
Petros C. Mavroidis and André Sapir.


Avoiding a Requiem for the WTO, Article by Petros C. Mavroidis
and Bernard Hoekman.


*This article is part of the Revue européenne du droit (RED)
issue on global governance, which you can read here.



This podcast is organised together with the editorial team of RED
which we thank for the support.