Are there still shared values to sustain multilateralism? Discourse in World Trade Organization reform debates

Abstract

What is the role of values and principles in sustaining and reforming trade multilateralism? After several years of crisis and gridlock, by the end of 2018 the reform process became a central issue at World Trade Organization (WTO) discussions. Whereas members agreed on the idea that WTO reform was a necessary condition for the preservation of trade multilateralism, whether and how that reform is still possible is uncertain. While the discrepancies in the positions among the proposals have been considered in several papers, the role of the values and principles behind them has been overlooked. In this paper, recalling Ruggie’s theory on multilateralism, I propose to identify whether in the reform debates countries still share a core of principles and values that could sustain trade multilateralism and move the WTO beyond its current paralysis. To do so, I use evidence based on a data set of coded statements of WTO members at the General Council meetings in the period 2019–2020. The paper shows that, although sharing a willingness to support multilateralism, members diverge in the values and principles that give meaning and shape to this type of international cooperation, challenging the capacity of the WTO to find its way through the reform.