Amid the chaos of United States President Donald Trump’s trade actions in his first two months in office, one key development has been overlooked. This is that two of the countries most vulnerable to US tariffs – China and Canada – surprisingly requested consultations with the US at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in early February and early March 2025. These requests are the first step in dispute settlement at the WTO. The US accepted both requests on 14 March. However, cheers for the enduring integrity of the global trading system should be withheld. The rules of the WTO are no longer enforceable and have not been since 2019. All sides involved know this, which makes the requests, and their acceptance, indicative of the institution’s long slide into irrelevance – the equivalent of institutional death.
The rules-based global trading system is mostly irrelevant (Chris Clague, IISS)
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