Global Trade Governance at a Time of Great Transformation: Why the WTO Is Inadequate for Defending “Fair Trade”?

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 305-307
Author(s):  
Manjiao Chi

In his book titled The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi analyzed the social and political upheavals that took place in England during the rise of the market economy. The period referred by Karl Polanyi has long passed, but the global economic development is standing at a historical crossroad once again, in the era of globalization and free trade. Profound changes in international trade and investment governance have taken place in recent years. Among these changes, the crisis of the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the center is outstanding and significant.

Author(s):  
T. M. Isachenko

Maximizing the benefits of international division of labor and sharing the achievements of innovative development is possible only with the existence of a strict system of rules and regulations. Such system would enable fair regulation of international trade, ensure the transparency of market access and make it possible to challenge discriminatory measures, as well as to maintain certain measures to protect the interests of domestic producers. The creation of the multilateral trading system has started with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and was subsequently developed in the documents and codes, the decisions of the negotiating rounds. Since 1995, a set of rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) became the basis of the multilateral trading system. All rules are worked out at the multilateral level. However, in recent years the negotiations within the WTO has slowed down, that affected the quality and speed of decision-making on key issues of global development. That provokes the discussion it on a certain crisis of the WTO as the main regulator of world trade, and therefore the need to provide both institutional and substantive reforms.


Subject Prospects for global trade in 2020-24. Significance US-China competition and a ‘populist backlash’ against trade in advanced nations are intensifying fears that the world is entering de-globalisation. World trade volumes are expected to grow modestly in 2019 and 2020, while the US-China trade conflict roils the multilateral trading system and global value chains, harming investment and job creation.


Con-texto ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Fandl

<p>This article brings to the attention of those public servants involved in the design and negotiation of free trade agreements between the United States and developing countries, such as Colombia, the potential benefits and drawbacks of negotiating in a bilateral forum. Rather than critiquing the free trade agreement for its particular provisions, this article examines the U.S. policy of negotiating bilaterally with developing countries as opposed to multilaterally in the world trade system and what effects such an approach might have on the economic development of the latter. Using an incremental policy analysis, the article critiques the bilateral approach in terms of economic development and fair trade negotiations using the recent Colombia-U.S. trade agreement as a case study. The article concludes that a bilateral approach that is disconnected from a broader multilateral context may be detrimental to developing countries and recommends increased oversight of such agreements by the World Trade Organization to ensure a higher degree of fairness.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherzod Shadikhodjaev

In a proceeding that challenged the domestic content requirements (DCRs) of India's solar energy program, the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) upheld the panel determination that the Indian government's measures violated its international obligations. The decision offers new insights into certain exceptions for environmental policies under the multilateral trading system and elaborates on the relevance of other international legal regimes to the compliance issue under WTO law. Further, it has the potential to increase export opportunities of many countries in the Indian renewable energy market.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuo Matsushita ◽  
Y.S. Lee

In recent decades, free trade agreements have been proliferated and have become a major part of the global trading system, along with the multilateral framework represented by the World Trade Organizations. This article discusses some of the major issues with FTA in relation to the WTO disciplines and also examines their implications for developing countries from the perspective of economic development. A global FTA network is proposed as a means to coordinate different, often conflicting rules among different FTAs and to promote common interests and concerns of developing countries.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Arno Dal Ri Júnior ◽  
Mariana Clara De Andrade

 ResumoO presente artigo aborda as negociações internacionais relativas à tutela ambiental no sistema multilateral de comércio no período que compreende o fim da Rodada de Tóquio (1979) até o fim da Rodada do Uruguai (1994) e a instituição da Organização Mundial do Comércio. Para tanto, analisa-se brevemente as mudanças surgidas no cenário do Direito Internacional Ambiental no ínterim situado entre as duas rodadas referidas para que se contextualize os impactos dos eventos ocorridos no período, particularmente com os adventos da Conferência de Estocolmo (1972) e a Rio-92 (1992). A partir disso, são analisados documentos das negociações do grupo GATT relevantes a questões ambientais, com o objetivo de se verificar o desenvolvimento institucional e normativo ocorrido durante o período citado, com enfoque particular na Rodada do Uruguai. Verifica-se a forte influência dos acontecimentos entre as décadas de 1970 e 1990 no cenário internacional e, particularmente, no sistema multilateral de comércio, culminando com a inclusão da preocupação com o desenvolvimento sustentável no preâmbulo do Acordo Constitutivo da OMC, em 1994.Palavras-chaveGATT; Rodada do Uruguai; Meio Ambiente; Sistema Multilateral de Comércio; Direito Internacional Ambiental. AbstractThe present article studies the international negotiations related to the environmental protection in the multilateral trading system, in the period comprised from the end of the Tokyo Round (1979) to the end of the Uruguay Round and the institution of the World Trade Organization (1994). In order to do so, it describes briefly the changes emerged in the context of International Environmental Law during the interim between the two rounds, so as to expose the impacts of the events that occurred in this period, especially those brought about by the advent of the Stockholm Conference (1972) and the Rio-92 (1992). Afterwards, this work analyses the documents concerning environmental matters produced in the negotiations of the GATT group in the period post-1972, with the aim of verifying the institutional and legal development of the system during the aforementioned interlude, with particular attention to the Uruguay Round. From this perspective, it can be observed the strong influence of the events that took place from 1970 to 1990 in the international scenario and, particularly, in the multilateral trading system, culminating with the assertion of the concern with sustainable development in the Preamble of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, in 1994. KeywordsGATT; Uruguay Round; Environment; Multilateral Trading System; International Environmental Law.


Author(s):  
James P. Murphy ◽  
Carolan McLarney

Regionalism and the Multilateral Trading System: The Role of Regional Trade Agreements is a discussion about the new reality and the evolution of the reduction of international barriers to freer trade under the World Trade Organization (WTO) formerly the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). The chapter devotes time to the two largest regional trade agreements (RTAs), the European Union (EU) with 28 countries and North American Trading Agreement (NAFTA) with three countries account for half of all world trade (WTO, 2017a). The US set a course post World War II as the proponent of globalization and freer trade. RTAs at that time were failing or inconsequential. In response to the EU trading block, the US committed to a (Free Trade Area) FTA with Canada and subsequently the NAFTA with Canada and Mexico the rest of the world began to become concerned about being shut out of a preferential trade deal. The main theme of the chapter is that trade liberalization is moving forward because of Regional Trading agreements, not the WTO which is stalled and may never restart in its current form.


Author(s):  
Sivan Shlomo Agon

This chapter sets the scene for the analysis of the Dispute Settlement System (DSS) operation and goal-attainment efforts in ‘linkage’ (or ‘trade-and’) disputes, the dispute category at the centre of Part II. As the chapter explains, linkage disputes have long subjected the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the DSS to intense legitimacy challenges; they thus form an instructive site for examining how the systemic challenges raised in such cases shape DSS goal-attainment efforts, motivate shifts and trade-offs between its goals, and, in consequence, affect DSS effectiveness in realizing its manifold objectives. The chapter first clarifies the notion of legitimacy as employed here, and situates the story of linkage disputes in the broader historical and institutional context of the multilateral trading system. It then unpacks the various legitimacy challenges encapsulated in linkage disputes while highlighting the shifts these challenges seem to generate between DSS goals, engaging the system in a heightened quest after its legitimization objectives.


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