Excitement ahead of next week’s 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization is, let’s say, well under control. The question is not whether this once-important gathering will fail, only if it will fail in a way that’s even worth noticing. The prevailing sentiment seems to be, “True, this broken relic of neoliberalism is barely any longer functioning. Who cares?”

Regardless of your views on globalization, you should care. Unrepentant neoliberals like myself see the rising tide of trade protection and deliberate economic fragmentation as a grave mistake. On our view that liberal trade is good, a suitably refurbished and effective WTO is an essential component of rising global prosperity. But even dedicated advocates of tariffs, subsidies, planning, industrial policy, friend-shoring, reshoring and all the rest ought to see the need for a well-functioning WTO – because fragmentation ought to be, at the very least, orderly and cooperative rather than chaotic. And chaotic fragmentation is exactly where the world economy is heading.

QOSHE - What Joe Biden Doesn’t Get About the WTO - Clive Crook
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What Joe Biden Doesn’t Get About the WTO

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23.02.2024

Excitement ahead of next week’s 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization is, let’s say, well under control. The question is not whether this once-important gathering will fail, only if it will fail in a way that’s even worth noticing.........

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