Impasse at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body: The Slow Demise of Multilateralism?
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Trade, Law and Development
Jae Sundaram* & Ayodele S. Owolabi,
Impasse at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body:
The Slow Demise of Multilateralism?
14(2) TRADE L. & DEV. 127 (2022)
IMPASSE AT THE WTO DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BODY: THE
SLOW DEMISE OF MULTILATERALISM?
JAE SUNDARAM* & AYODELE S. OWOLABI**
The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) is unquestionably the most elaborate rules-based system to be
established in the post-World War II era, internationally. The DSB has
helped maintain the smooth running of the multilateral trading body for over
two decades through its yule of law' approach to dispute settlement. The
Appellate Body (AB), which the W'TO relies on heavily for its full
functionality, is as of December 2019 not functional, which effectivey deprives
all Member States of their legal right to appeal the findings of a Panel's
decision. While various factors are attributable to the current impasse at the
W'TO ns-a-vis the AB, one underlying factor, which the authors of this article
view as fundamental, is the prolferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs),
which developed countries have come to strongy rely upon. This article will
seek to demonstrate that there is a direct connection between i) the action of
withdrawing support for the AB by the United States (US), and thereby
creating a stalemate at the DSB (although being a leading/founding Member
State of the multilateral trading system), and iz) the prolferation of RTAs
promoted by developed county Member States (in particular, the US);'1 or, in
the alternative, examine the question: is there a direct connection between the
RTAs of the US and the AB caisis?
Reader in Trade & Maritime Law, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom [UK]. The
author can be contacted at jae.sundaram[at]buckingham.ac.uk.
** Associate Lecturer in Law, Leeds Beckett University, UK; Ph.D. Candidate in
International Relations, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China. The author can be
contacted at a.owolabi[at]leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Francis Grimal for taking his time
to go through an earlier draft of this article and offer his insightful suggestions, from which,
needless to say, they benefitted.
1 The authors of this article hold the view that mega-Regional Trade Agreements [RTAs]
do undermine the very existence of the World Trade Organization [WTO], as they divert a
substantial volume of trade away from the WTO's multilateral trade platform, thereby
subjecting the trade so conducted to a different rule book, which could be more favourable
to a select few countries - mostly developed country Member States - that are in an
advantageous position within that particular RTA.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/traladpt14&div=17&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Impasse at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body: The Slow Demise of Multilateralism?
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