Biden, and Global Trade Architecture

Abstract

Following the 2020 United States presidential election, economists have high hopes for the president-elect, Mr. Joseph Biden, and for the next US administration. The hopes are especially for the potential changes in the global trade architecture.There are quite a few outstanding issues in the global agenda. Other than the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences on the world economy, global issues that call for urgent attention are climate change and the multilateral trading system. The multilateral trading system operated mainly by the World Trade Organization (WTO) is in crisis. Most outstanding issues currently facing the WTO include failure in trade negotiations and malfunction of the dispute settlement system, among others.Biden is not going to be panacea to all the global issues outstanding. Even if America returns to the global stage with Biden’s new policy initiatives, it would be hard to imagine the world going back to the pre-Trump era. In order to tackle global outstanding issues, the Biden administration is expected to adopt an institutional and multilateral approach with more predictable policies that are rules-based. Most of all, a trust-rebuilding process must be the first step for WTO reform.