The World Trade Organization grabbed headlines in late 2014 by approving the first multilateral deal in its nearly 20-year history, but many observers disagree about whether that milestone portends more extensive deals to ease cross-border trade internationally or increased conflict among members and further reliance on alternative avenues for negotiation.
‘‘The worst has been averted,’’ Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Bloomberg BNA after WTO members in late November stamped their approval on a deal drafted in Bali the previous December. Hufbauer’s statement reflected the intense debate concerning the legitimacy of the WTO as a trade negotiating forum when a U.S.-India dispute left the Bali deal on the table for four months beyond the July 2014 deadline for passage.
Written by Christina L. Lyons, copyright 2015 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
