An Agentic WTO: Thoughts on WTO reform in the face of a divided WTO membership and China’s role

Abstract The multilateral trading system was a vision of post-World War II Allied planners for all nations living in harmony within a system of liberalized trade and agreed rules. The organization they envisaged, the International Trade Organization (ITO) went too far and was not created. What replaced it was a contract, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), an arrangement which governed for almost fifty years. To this ad hoc structure, in 1995 was added, an agreement on trade relat

Source: Peterson Institute (PIIE)