The WTO Multilateral Trading System in a Globalizing World

The World Trade Organization (WTO) celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015, thus providing for a timely opportunity to analyze its main achievements and address the key challenges that it is currently facing. The WTO succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which had operated on a temporary basis for nearly half a century. The rules of this multilateral trading system were updated and expanded to capture the changing patterns in international trade, largely driven by globalization. While it is widely acknowledged that the WTO has provided a new basis for conducting international trade, strengthened and expanded the rules of the multilateral trading system, and accomplished many goals, it has been less successful in pursuing the key objectives of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The DDA was launched in 2001, is the longest negotiation round in the history of the GATT and the WTO and a conclusion is still not within sight. Despite the fact that the DDA was not formally concluded, considerable trade liberalization has been accomplished in areas of significant economic importance.