WTO struggles for relevance in a de-globalising world

As headlines over recent years have regularly reminded us, global trade is now being driven more by geopolitics than by economic common sense. Tensions between China and the United States, combined with

the Russia-Ukraine war

and the experience of Covid-19, have produced such trends as “re-shoring”, “friend-shoring”, “resilience-building”, an emphasis on economic security rather than efficiency, more tariffs, protectionist industrial policies, restrictions on cross-border investments and supplies of high-technology products, and a variety of export controls.

To boot, there are gaping holes in rules covering trade in agriculture, services and 21st-century issues like e-commerce. Major trade disputes are no longer being adjudicated.