Revitalizing the World Trading System

Considers the history of trade, the current state of the World Trade Organization and how it should be reformed.

Alan Wm. Wolff (Author)

9781009289320, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 July 2023

588 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.839 kg

'This book is an essential reference for any trade enthusiast wishing to make a positive contribution in the face of the many challenges confronting the Multilateral Trading System. In a rapidly changing and increasingly complex trade landscape, this book goes beyond addressing the future of the WTO and looks at the WTO of the future.' Hamid Mamdouh, Former Director, Services and Investment Division of the WTO, and Former Egyptian Delegate to the GATT

In recent years, the world trading system has been confronted by a range of new and developing challenges: the risk of climate change, the instability of the digital economy, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and the threat of future pandemics, to name but a few. In this book, veteran trade negotiator, Ambassador Alan Wm. Wolff, draws from his years of experience at the World Trade Organization to consider the history of trade, the current trading system and how it should be reformed in the future. Offering a rare insight into the inner workings of the WTO, Wolff is uniquely placed to identify deficiencies in the current system and suggest actionable solutions. This essential guidebook to the WTO equips readers with the tools and knowledge required to tackle to emerging and emergent challenges of a global trading system.

Introduction: saving the world trading system
Part I. Why Trade?: 1. The origins of trade
Part II. The Multilateral Trading System: 2. The founding of the multilateral trading system
3. Core elements of the world trading system
4. Twenty values of the multilateral trading system
5. A brief history of the WTO as told to us by its ministerial conferences
Part III. The Regular Operations of the WTO: 6. A week at the WTO
Part IV. Major Substantive Topics: 7. Dispute settlement at the WTO
8. Agriculture
9. Services
10. E-Commerce
11. Development at the WTO
Part V. World Trade Governance and Systemic Reform: 12. The problem of governance of the multilateral trading system
13. The need for WTO reform
14. WTO 2025: WTO Reform
Part VI. Conclusion: 15. Conclusion – The future of the WTO
Afterword. The art and science of negotiation
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], Public international law [LBB], International economics [KCL]