{"id":61087,"date":"2025-04-07T15:45:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T19:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=61087"},"modified":"2025-04-08T15:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T19:33:07","slug":"slobodian-on-the-wtos-decline-and-the-fragmentation-of-global-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2025\/04\/07\/slobodian-on-the-wtos-decline-and-the-fragmentation-of-global-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Slobodian on the WTO\u2019s Decline and the Fragmentation of Global Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In a recent episode of NPR\u2019s <\/span>The Indicator from Planet Money<\/span><\/i>, Professor Quinn Slobodian, Professor of International History at the Pardee School of Global Studies, shed light on the unraveling influence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the shifting architecture of global trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

The segment explored how the WTO\u2014once the cornerstone of global trade dispute resolution\u2014has fallen into paralysis, largely due to the United States’ withdrawal of support. While the U.S. helped create the WTO in 1995, Professor Slobodian notes that its commitment to the organization was always somewhat paradoxical.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a moment where America, the world\u2019s most powerful country, saw it somehow in its own interest to cede part of their sovereignty to this international institution,\u201d Slobodian explained. That moment of postwar cooperation reflected a different era in U.S. foreign policy that is driven by institutional rules and collective decision-making.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, tensions have been building for years, particularly around the rise of China as a global economic power. After joining the WTO in 2001, China claimed exemptions as a developing country while rapidly expanding its economic influence. The result, Slobodian argues, was growing U.S. disillusionment with a system in which it could no longer always enforce its own terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

The situation escalated during the Obama administration, which began blocking reappointments to the WTO appellate body. The Trump administration took that even further, halting all new appointments\u2014effectively dismantling the WTO\u2019s ability to arbitrate trade disputes. The Biden administration made some gestures toward reform, but ultimately, the appellate body remains nonfunctional.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the U.S. turning inward, Slobodian says the future of international economic cooperation will likely take a different form. Rather than one global trade referee, he sees the rise of a patchwork system: regional and bilateral agreements shaping the next chapter of global commerce.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the WTO fades into irrelevance, Professor Slobodian\u2019s analysis offers a sobering look at what comes next\u2014a world of fragmented rules, shifting alliances, and a redefinition of what global economic order looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to the entire cameo <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent episode of NPR\u2019s The Indicator from Planet Money, Professor Quinn Slobodian, Professor of International History at the Pardee School of Global Studies, shed light on the unraveling influence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the shifting architecture of global trade. The segment explored how the WTO\u2014once the cornerstone of global trade…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22886,"featured_media":61085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8410],"tags":[1688,12575,12574,4012,12309,8388],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61088,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61087\/revisions\/61088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}