Revitalising Multilateralism: Pragmatic Ideas for the New WTO Director-General

In the midst of profound contemporary shifts and shocks facing humankind, a quarter of a century after its creation the WTO is evidently not where pressing trade problems are being solved. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a lens, this eBook offers insights into the underlying choices faced by WTO members and offers pragmatic suggestions for a WTO work programme over the next three years.

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Revitalising multilateral trade cooperation: Why? Why Now? And How?
Simon J. Evenett and Richard Baldwin

Section 1: Enhancing the crisis management capabilities of the WTO

1 Against the clock: Eight steps to improve WTO crisis management
Alejandro Jara

2 COVID-19 trade policy measures, G20 declarations and WTO reform
Bernard Hoekman

3 How the WTO kept talking: Lessons from the COVID-19 crisis
Patrick Low and Robert Wolfe

4 Role of trade ministers at the WTO during crises: Activating global cooperation to overcome COVID-19
Anabel González

5 COVID-19 and beyond: What the WTO can do
Ujal Singh Bhatia

6 A crisis-era moratorium on tariff increases
Alessandro Nicita and Marcelo Olarreaga

Section 2: Reassessing the WTO’s place in the world trading system: The pandemic and beyond

7 Cumulative COVID-19 restrictions and the global maritime network
Inga Heiland and Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe

8 Reviving air transportation and global commerce
Camilla B. Bosanquet and Kenneth J. Button

9 Lessons from the pandemic for trade facilitation and the WTO
Yann Duval

10 Lessons from the pandemic for trade cooperation on cross-border supply chains
Sébastien Miroudot

11 Three steps to facilitate global distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine
Caroline Freund and Christine McDaniel

12 Lessons from the pandemic for FDI screening practices
Xinquan Tu and Siqi Li

13 Feminising WTO 2.0
Mia Mikic and Vanika Sharma

Section 3: Revamping the WTO rule book in light of the pandemic

14 A pandemic trade deal: Trade and policy cooperation on medical goods
Alvaro Espitia, Nadia Rocha and Michele Ruta

15 Lessons from the pandemic for future WTO subsidy rules
Dessie Ambaw, Peter Draper and Henry Gao

16 State ownership stakes before and during the COVID-19 corporate support measures: Implications for future international cooperation
Przemyslaw Kowalski

17 COVID-19 as a catalyst for another bout of export mercantilism
Simon J. Evenett

18 Lessons from the pandemic for trade cooperation in digital services
Erik van der Marel

19 The temporary movement of natural persons (Mode 4): The need for a long view
L Alan Winters

20 Lessons from the pandemic for WTO work on agricultural trade and support
Peter Ungphakorn

21 Technical regulations in the WTO: The need to improve transparency
Biswajit Dhar

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