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Case Study on the World Trade Organization REPORT Case study on the World Trade Organization Project: GLOBE – The European Union and the Future of Global Governance GA: 822654 Call: H2020-SC6-GOVERNANCE-2018 Funding Scheme: Collaboration Project DISCLAIMER This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 822654. The information in this deliverable reflects only the authors’ views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Due date: 30.11.2020 Submission date: 30.11.2020 Lead beneficiary: KU Leuven Authors: Jan Wouters, Bart Kerremans, Juliana Peixoto Batista, Vineet Hegde, Akhil Raina Page 2 from 145 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4 Paper 1: The Future of Global Economic Governance: The World Trade Organization, the European Union and the Crisis of Multilateralism, Jan Wouters, Vineet Hegde, Akhil Raina .......................................................................... 8 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 8 2. Developments in Dispute Settlement ................................................................ 12 3. Negotiations at the WTO ................................................................................... 23 4. Negotiations outside the WTO Framework ....................................................... 36 5. Emerging Trends in Global Economic Governance .......................................... 44 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 53 Paper 2: Dispute Settlement and Multilateral Trade Governance: A Tale of Short-Term Paralysis and Systemic Frustrations, Bart Kerremans ..................... 56 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 56 2. The Problems of the WTO Today ..................................................................... 58 3. Does the DSS Matter? A Theory of the Linkage between the DSS and Multilateral Trade Governance .......................................................................... 63 4. The Road to the DSM’s Demise ........................................................................ 68 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 93 Paper 3: Aid for Trade: An Overview, Juliana Peixoto Batista .............................. 97 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 97 2. Origins of the Aid for Trade Concept and its Launching in the WTO ................. 99 3. Linkages between Aid for Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals: How Can Aid for Trade Contribute to Achieving the SDGs? ................................... 104 4. The Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Aid for Trade Initiative ........................................................................................................................ 110 5. Results of the Aid for Trade Initiative So Far ................................................... 125 6. Major Criticisms of the Aid for Trade Initiative and Challenges Ahead ............ 135 7. Final Remarks ................................................................................................. 139 Page 3 from 145 Introduction The task description requires this deliverable to focus on two separate issues. On the one hand, the purpose of this deliverable is to conduct a case study on the historical development and impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the main organization governing trade. The case study is meant to investigate whether the WTO is well equipped to deliver on its four main objectives, namely trade liberalisation, system maintenance, transparency and dispute settlement. In addition, this case study is meant to focus on the relations between the European Union (EU) and the WTO to determine the extent to which the EU's policy and the WTO's evolution are mutually reinforcing in the face of challenges such as the return of protectionist discourses, and in light of the growing contestation to the EU's normative approach to trade. On the other hand, the task description also calls for an analysis of Aid for Trade, which can help advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The case study is meant to investigate how the Aid for Trade approach, developed within the context of the WTO, relates to the SDGs. It seeks to delineate the historical development of this important but understudied policy approach and to determine the impact of Aid for Trade on the SDGs. Because these two aspects of the task description are distinct topics, we approach the topics through separate papers. The first topic centers on the WTO’s evolution and the relationship between the EU and the WTO within an increasingly contested multilateral trading system. The EU single market is the world’s biggest trading bloc, and trade is seen as a primary driver of economic growth and contributor to employment within the EU. For many of the EU’s trade partners, too, trade with the EU is crucial for sustaining and improving economic growth as the EU ranks as the leading trade partner to eighty countries1. Accordingly, EU trade policy seeks to leverage the might of the EU as a “trade power” in order to pursue various global governance goals. In fact, the EU is legally required2 to conduct its trade policy in line with “the principles which have inspired its own creation, 1 EU Commission Directorate-General for Trade, “EU Position in World Trade - Trade - European Commission,” EU Commission, February 2019, https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/eu-position-in-world-trade/. 2 The EU’s trade policy, or “Common Commercial Policy” (CCP) falls under EU external action, and therefore Art. 12 of the TEU applies. Art. 205 & Art. 207, Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [2012] C 326/01. Page 4 from 145 development and enlargement, and which it seeks to advance in the wider world”3 and is thus required to pursue various goals through its trade policy. One of these goals is to “promote an international system based on stronger multilateral cooperation”4 and the EU is a staunch defender of a multilateral approach to trade governance, and in particular the World Trade Organization as the leading international organization governing trade. Indeed, the EU has a unique stake in the organization – the WTO is one of the few formal intergovernmental organizations of which the EU is a full member, and the EU has long been a firm supporter of the WTO. In recent years, the EU has reiterated this support for the WTO in light of the increasing pressure and mounting challenges the WTO5. Protectionist discourses from major players in world trade and growing contestation within the WTO pose serious obstacles for both the WTO in meeting its primary objectives and the EU in pursuing its global trade agenda. Of the challenges currently faced by the WTO, the breakdown of the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism, resulting from the United States’ blockage of new Appellate Body appointments, is widely seen to be among the most detrimental to the multilateral trading system. The EU Commission describes this as a “a 20-year step backward in global economic governance”6 as well as a major risk to both the EU and the global economic order. This deliverable seeks to make sense of the changing dynamics and unprecedented recent developments in order to understand how the EU’s policies can support and reinforce the WTO’s primary objectives. To this end, the first part of the deliverable aims to do two things: first, it will provide a ‘bird’s-eye’ view of the evolving state of play within global trade governance, situating the WTO within this context. Next it will take an in-depth look at the crisis of the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism. It approaches these two related but separate goals through two papers. The first paper, “The Future of Global Economic Governance: The World Trade Organization, the European Union and the Crisis of Multilateralism” by Jan Wouters, Vineet Hedge and Akhil Raina, provides an up-to-date assessment of the recent 3 Art. 21, Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ C115/13. 4 Ibid. 5 European Commission, “WTO Modernisation: Introduction to Future EU Proposals,” Concept Paper (Brussels: European Union, 2018), https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2018/september/tradoc_157331.pdf. 6 European Commission, 1. Page 5 from 145 developments in the WTO and the EU’s engagement with the organization. In light of recent changes both within the organization and with respect to how trade is being conducted globally, it is necessary to re-evaluate how the EU’s trade policy aligns with the WTO’s administration of the global trade regime. The paper looks at three primary issues: first, recent developments in WTO dispute settlement, notably regarding the Appellate Body; second, evolution in the role of the WTO as a negotiating forum, including the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the Environmental Goods Agreement, but also challenges like the future of Special and Differential Treatment, Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fisheries Subsidies, and transparency issues; and third, non-WTO developments
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