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 cross‐border 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 Minister