External publications

Reinvigorating the WTO as a negotiating forum

Nakagawa, Junji / Sait Akman / Axel Berger / Eduardo Bianchi / Manjiao Chi / Uri Dadush / Jean Dong / Gabriel Felbermayr / Andreas Freytag / Anabel Gonzalez / Bernard Hoekman / David Laborde / Sandra Rios / Sabyasachi Saha / Claudia Schmucker / Akihiko Ta
External Publications (2019)

T20 Japan, Task Force 8 (Trade, Investment and Globalization), Policy Brief (March 2019)

Information

The multilateral trading system is on the verge of a crisis arising from, among others, the dysfunction of the WTO as a forum for trade liberalization and trade related rule-making. The G20 should tackle with this challenge in a proactive and innovative manner by reinvigorating the WTO as a forum for negotiation. Possible policy options include multilateral agreements with multi-speed implementation, plurilateral agreements and critical mass agreements, but priority should be on multilateral agreements with multi-lanes. Possible themes for such negotiations can be e-commerce and investment facilitation.