The WTO’S Contribution to the Challenges of Global Commons

ABSTRACT Global trade can be an important part of the solution to modern global challenges, just as the rule-based multilateral trading system played an instrumental role in fostering peace and prosperity since its creation in 1947. Trade has been a lifeline for producing and accessing critical medical supplies from face masks to vaccines almost since the beginning of the pandemic; trade is also an important means for adapting to climate change as well as cutting emissions; and trade has helped net-food-importing countries faced with food crisis. For trade to be a part of solutions to the range of modern challenges, the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is indispensable, and it must be updated for it to remain fit for purpose. The continuing reinvention of the WTO will not be easy, but the outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) are a good start. In this special contribution to the Journal of International Economic Law, I reflect on the WTO’s role for the twenty-first century and beyond and how the MC12 outcomes will serve as a foundation and a platform for Members to build on to reinvent the WTO.