Survival of the World Trade Organization through Efficient Reforms

The World Trade Organization (WTO) plays a vital role in the international trade community. As of 30 May 2020, 164 states signed the WTO agreement, i.e. USA, China, India, Japan, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Newzealand. WTO holds 98% of world trade within the international trade sector. The birth of the World Trade Organization may be traced back to the end of the Second World War. During the Second World War, for economic growth, International Trade Organization (ITO) was formed with the other two intergovernmental organizations (i.e. the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank). ITO could not succeed due to nonratification of the Havana Charter by the United States Congress. After unsuccessful of ITO, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was established to overcome the problems as observed in the ITO. However, the GATT was not free from criticisms due to different factors, i.e. misusing the rules of GATT, 80% of trade transactions were conducted through bypassing the GATT rules among the GATT member states, by not putting the contractual parties on equal footings, providing discriminatory measures towards developing and least developed countries by the developed countries etc). To overcome these obstacles of GATT, WTO came into effect on 1 January 1995. However, the USA claimed that the DSB of the WTO has performed its functions ultra vires and provided judgments against the notion of Article 3.2 of the DSU. Thus, the existence of the WTO is at risk now. Legal scholars, world leaders in G20 Osaka Summit 2019, UNCITRAL’s report and the WTO suggested for necessary and efficient reforms of the WTO. This research will examine how efficient reforms of WTO may be achieved from legal and policy perspectives for sustainable economic growth around the world.