Is plurilateralism making the WTO an institutional zombie?

17 February 2021
Author: Naoise McDonagh, University of Adelaide
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 2014 Trade Facilitation Agreement is the only significant multilateral agreement it has concluded since its inception in 1995. Against that success, significant failures stand out. The inability to complete the Doha Development Round launched in 2001 and the failure to curb fishing subsidies despite the decimation of global fish stocks indicates that multilateralism is floundering.
The growth in plurilateral agreements adds to that view and raises questions about the WTO’s future. Plurilateralism refers to trade and investment negotiations between three or more countries, but fewer than all WTO members. Plurilaterals can occur inside the WTO, where non-signatories still receive the benefits through the most-favoured-nation requirement. The 1996 Information Technology Agreement is one early example. Issue-specific WTO plurilaterals, such as the e-commerce negotiations, are becoming a popular option. To reduce free-riding, these ‘open’ WTO plurilaterals require a critical mass of members to have signed on before entering into force.

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