Many explanations have been offered for the current difficulties of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In fact, the system appears to have managed many of these challenges reasonably well, including the increase in the number of members, its ‘mediaeval’ decision-making procedures, the changing geopolitical environment, the rapid growth of preferential trade arrangements (PTAs), the complexity of its agreements, and concerns about erosion of unilateral preferences. By contrast, the near-exhaustion of the traditional fuel of industrial-country non-agricultural tariffs, the increasing...

Many explanations have been offered for the current difficulties of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In fact, the system appears to have managed many of these challenges reasonably well, including the increase in the number of members, its ‘mediaeval’ decision-making procedures, the changing geopolitical environment, the rapid growth of preferential trade arrangements (PTAs), the complexity of its agreements, and concerns about erosion of unilateral preferences. By contrast, the near-exhaustion of the traditional fuel of industrial-country non-agricultural tariffs, the increasing importance of non-trade concerns, and incomplete adjustment to a new, multi-polar negotiating system appear to be important factors requiring further examination.