Plurilateral Cooperation as an Alternative to Trade Agreements: Innovating One Domain at a Time

Abstract

At the end of 2017 different groups of WTO members decided to launch talks on four subjects, setting aside the WTO consensus working practice. This paper argues that these 'joint statement initiatives' (JSIs) should seek to establish open plurilateral agreements (OPAs) even in instances where the outcome can be incorporated into existing schedules of commitments of participating WTO members. Designing agreements as OPAs provides an institutional framework for collaboration among the responsible national authorities, transparency, mutual review and learning, as well as alternatives to default WTO dispute settlement procedures which may not be appropriate for supporting cooperation on the matters addressed by the JSIs. In parallel, WTO members should establish enforceable multilateral principles to ensure OPAs are compatible with an open global trade regime. The nascent shift to plurilateral initiativesPlurilateral cooperation is not new for the WTO. Many WTO agreements are the outcome of negotiations among the 'principal suppliers' of products and the principal 'demandeurs' for rules pertaining to a given area of trade policy. Although the practice has been to pursue cooperation

Populism, Globalization, and the Prospects for Restoring the WTO

“…Annex 4 would allow smaller coalitions of countries to avoid populist confrontations or conflict with other WTO members and reach an agreement. Annex 4 would be particularly useful in pursuing agreements on new topics that do not meet the threshold of consensus support, such as electronic commerce, investment facilitation in developing countries, services regulation, environmental sustainability, plastics pollution (see WTO, One Annex 4 proposal would establish WTO measures to help small firms overcome barriers to entering global trade markets and would also help to build a broader base of political support for the WTO and trade liberalization (Hoekman & Sabel, 2021). Unfortunately, the Annex 4 issue is yet another prisoner of the consensus rule, which allows any WTO member country to veto any such agreement, even as a non-signatory (Hoekman & Sabel, 2019).…”

Geopolitical Competition, Globalization and WTO Reform

“…Such agreements are likely to pass muster under Article XX, and arguably under Article III as well. Credible commitments that ensure OPAs are open to new accession, including an obligation on club members to assist countries interested in joining but not able to attain requisite regulatory standards are important preconditions for OPAs to support the multilateral trade regime (Hoekman and Sabel, 2021).…”

The Geneva Effect: Where Officials Sit Influences Where They Stand on WTO Priorities

“…As a response to the Doha Round deadlock, at the 2017 WTO ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, groups of WTO members launched "joint statement initiatives" (JSIs) with a view to explore the scope to agree on specific issues on a plurilateral ('critical mass') basis (Hoekman and Sabel, 2021). The JSIs imply a move away from negotiations spanning all WTO members and the working practice of consensus decision-making.…”

“…In addition, talks had been launched on e-commerce, domestic regulation of services, investment facilitation, and measures to enhance the ability of micro and small and medium enterprises to utilize trade opportunities. The latter four negotiations took the form of "joint statement initiative" negotiations that sought to establish new open plurilateral agreements (Hoekman and Sabel, 2021). The fishery negotiations aim to discipline subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.…”