The World Trade Organization’s Past and Future: American and European Perspectives on Global Economic Governance

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing existential challenges. Nominations to the Appellate Body are deadlocked; steel and aluminum tariffs are being raised and retaliated against; substantive negotiations are stalled; and the Doha Round is in a clinical coma. A number of Members are convinced that the WTO is in need of profound reform, inter alia to cope with the need of integrating developing countries further into the system, addressing unfair subsidies and the problems of state-owned enterprises, and optimizing the dispute settlement system. The present lecture looks into these challenges, comparing EU and US positions, and critically discusses some of the proposals for reform that have been made.

Jan Wouters is Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam European Union and Global Governance, Director of the Institute for International Law and of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies (both a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and a University Centre of Excellence) at KU Leuven, and President of the University’s Board for International Policy. He is Adjunct Professor at Columbia University (New York) and Visiting Professor at Sciences Po (Paris), LUISS (Rome) and the College of Europe (Bruges). A Member of the Belgian Royal Academy and Of Counsel at Linklaters, he has published widely on international and EU law, international organizations and global governance. He is Coordinator of a large Horizon 2020 Project, RECONNECT (Reconnecting Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and Rule of Law). He advises and trains regularly international organizations and governments, and is often asked to comment international events in the media. In 2019 he is Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa, the University of Trento and Université Paris2.