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Begin New Search Topic World Trade Organization Author Alan Wm. Wolff

1. Can the World Trade Organization be saved? Should it?

Author:
Alan Wm. Wolff
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Heads of state, trade ministers, and academics have repeatedly called for reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO), the institution charged with the stewardship of the global trading system. The durability and worth of the WTO are being increasingly questioned despite the fact that by almost all objective measures, it has been a great success, with world trade growing much faster than global GDP over the last 75 years. However, past success does not guarantee future performance. This Policy Brief examines the institution’s most serious defects and the multitude of challenges it faces. It suggests the institution needs to evolve to reach broad-based international trade agreements, adding much needed new rules to the world trade rulebook and developing effective means to settle disputes that would render the rules of the system enforceable once again.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Saving the WTO from the national security exception

Author:
Warren Maruyama and Alan Wm. Wolff
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
For any member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) not making alternative arrangements, enforceability of the rules of the global trading system, a distinguishing feature of the WTO, ceased to exist on December 11, 2019, because the United States blocked appointments to the Appellate Body of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. A major obstacle to the United States accepting any resolution of this impasse—thus permitting dispute settlement to once again be binding on all WTO members—is settling the issue of whether claims of national security to legitimize trade measures are reviewable. This is a red line for the United States, which argues this claim is nonreviewable. In the emerging area of great power competition, the United States is unlikely to accept a return to fully effective WTO dispute settlement absent a compromise that finds determinations of national security nonjusticiable. This paper offers a compromise: There would be no adjudication of whether a trade measure was justified under the WTO’s national security exception, but those WTO members adversely affected would have an immediate right to rebalance trade concessions themselves by imposing retaliatory trade measures against the WTO member invoking the exception.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, National Security, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Food insecurity: What can the world trading system do about it?

Author:
Alan Wm. Wolff
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major supplier of grain to the Middle East and Africa, has triggered deep concerns over access to affordable food across the globe. The alarming rise in food insecurity across the world due to conflicts makes it increasingly urgent to set ground rules for sharing food in global markets and getting food to places most in need to avoid starvation and famine. The most glaring and relevant gap in the rules of the world trading system pertains to sharing food in times of scarcity. The authors recommend using the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) long-standing accords on agriculture as a basis to provide guidelines for supplying food to global markets, especially areas in need. The most obvious shortcoming in the rules is that WTO members are largely free to restrict exports of food. The WTO rules need to be updated to take into account climate change, extreme weather, military conflicts, pandemics, and other factors that interfere with food production. The WTO can specify factors that an exporting country must take into account when imposing an export restriction on food, and it can require consultations to deal with severe disruptions in world food trade. It can also serve to mediate the interests of food exporters and importers in enhancing food security.
Topic:
Agriculture, World Trade Organization, Food Security, and Trade Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus