News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, June 2, 2023
Work will commence in September on drafting concrete proposals for a new dispute settlement system for the WTO, a Geneva-based trade official said today. A sense of momentum is evident following a series of informal but extensive consultations over the past few months between WTO members and the diplomat charged …
This week’s selection of interesting think tank pieces on international trade. By Maia Wilson and Iana Dreyer.
After a few weeks of being fairly quiet, think tanks doing things on trade policy have been churning out reports again – long or short – on some big-ticket items: WTO reform, EU data flows and EU Turkey relations.
The WTO would function better if it could become more flexible in drawing on cross-cutting expertise both from within the organisation and from external stakeholders. This was one of a range of messages floated at this week’s meeting of the WTO’s general council, as discussions picked up speed on how …
The regular WTO trade forecast this week was a useful way to reaffirm the value of multilateralism. The latter however is increasingly in jeopardy as the US and China spar over national security and export controls in Geneva.
Reform has emerged, like a submarine, to the surface of the World Trade Organization’s turbulent waters as the issue was formally discussed for the first time at today’s monthly meeting of the dispute settlement body.
China took the initiative on trade and climate this week in Geneva. Beijing is calling for the creation a platform for ‘multilateral dedicated discussions’ on the trade implications of environmentally-focused trade measures such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
The WTO dispute settlement system has received a boost with the announcement by Japan that it is signing up to the multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement, or MPIA.
The WTO says multilateralism has helped keep the food price crisis in check after the war in Ukraine. And the think tank Bruegel chimes in with its own report on how the EU should respond to US green subsidies.
Some 28 years after it came into existence, the World Trade Organization is facing something of an existential crisis. Where are the prospects for current institutional reform efforts?
