To Dystopia and Beyond: The WTO in a Warming Megaregional World

Abstract

This paper will highlight the linkages between the climate crisis and trade negotiations in a dystopic post-WTO world. It will argue that the window of opportunity to achieve an effective multilateral trade regime has closed and will be sealed shut by accelerating climate change. The post-WTO regime is a megaregional regime, and it will exclude those countries that do not get on board before the destabilizing effects of the climate crisis make their inclusion impossible to achieve. Geopolitical shifts destabilized the WTO regime and have led to its collapse. The effects of the climate crisis will be even more dramatic.

Keywords: Megaregionals, Climate Crisis, Developing Countries

JEL Classification: k33