Redesigning Global Trade Institutions

Abstract:     
This is a draft of an essay for the symposium, 2021: International Law Ten Years from Now, held by the Southwestern Journal of International Law in cooperation with the International Law Association (American Branch) Weekend West. The essay deals with two questions. First, what is to be of the WTO and world trade institutions generally? It examines the rise of regionalism in international trade agreements and possible roles for variable geometry for the WTO. The essay critiques proposals to move towards (or back to) plurilateralism for the WTO. Second, what should trade agreements do? This question goes to the core values and operating principles for trade institutions. I argue that governments should take questions of distributive justice seriously in the design of global trade institutions.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 12

Accepted Paper Series