Adjudication of International Trade Disputes: from Success to Crisis. What’s Next?

The WTO Appellate Body ceased to operate at the beginning of 2020, leading to the semi-paralysis of the WTO’s well-functioning dispute settlement system as a consequence of the blockage of the appointment of its members by the US. This article traces back to the development of trade adjudication within the broader process of the “judicialization” of international relations, from the GATT to the WTO, highlighting the latter’s innovations and successful functioning for more than 20 years. The US-led paralysis has evidenced the fragility of international adjudication when faced with powerful opposition. It remains to be seen whether the support for revitalizing the WTO and its dispute settlement system expressed by the WTO Members at the Ministerial Conference of June 2022 will result in reinstating a functioning system, capable of meeting the needs of international trade in a global but increasingly politicized and fractured context.