Realist and Internationalist Perspectives of WTO Reform Challenges From the US-China Trade War and Broader Questioning of the International Trade System

Abstract

During its twenty years, WTOs longstanding commitment to forming the multilateral international trade freedom shaped the rule and system among its hundreds of members. The trading world has been a seamless faade, covering the increasingly revolutionary change of a new, emerging order. The conundrum of WTO reform has been a consequence of global economic imbalance and political conflicts. Two representatives of the worlds extreme ideologies once again compete against each other for decades without effective resolution. WTO needs self-reform, not only for its own international jurisdiction and jurisprudence, but more of the collaboration from a settled international economic and free trade community. We will discuss the relevant elements from two different perspectives from institutionalism and realism.