WTO has been stuck in neutral since 2011. Politicians won't get it going again without a serious push from the business community

The World Trade Organization, the multilateral body that oversees the global trading system, is not top of mind for the business community. But it should be. The WTO’s current diminished state affects international commerce generally. Without universally respected rules, uncertainty prevails, and uncertainty raises businesses’ costs. Without the multilateral disciplines the WTO provides, a quilt of different agreements will impose a bewildering set of differing commercial requirements in different nations.

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The collapse of the Doha Round negotiations in 2011 was a dire setback for the WTO. Since then it has been unable to play a meaningful role in meeting today’s challenging trade issues, including carbon-free goods, the pandemic and digital commerce, among others. And the unsettled world — Ukraine, Gaza, the South China Sea — damages the political relationships in the organization, which in turn hampers its decision-making.

The WTO needs to do two critical things: negotiate updated trade rules and get its dysfunctional dispute settlement system operating again. How can it achieve them?

WTO trade ministers are meeting the final three days of this month in Abu Dhabi at their 13th ministerial........

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