Supply Chains, Mega-Regionals and Multilateralism: A Road Map for the WTO

Abstract

At the 9th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Bali it was agreed to develop a work program to conclude the long-running Doha round. This report argues that any work program should recognize that goods and services are increasingly produced in international supply chains. Many of the policies impacting on supply chain trade are on the negotiating table; others are not. The WTO takes a “silo approach”, addressing policy areas in isolation. This may reduce the relevance of WTO agreements as the marginal effect of agreement on one policy instrument may be minimal if the cost-raising effects of others are not addressed in parallel. Complementing market-access and rule-making negotiations with a supply chain framework may help to construct an overall package spanning the different policy areas that are on the table, and to identify policy areas that are not, but should be discussed. Greater use of the WTO for deliberation on trade policy matters and learning from the experience of regional trade agreements, complemented by an effort to create greater space for new plurilateral agreements among groups of WTO Members, could help bolster the relevance of the WTO as a forum for multilateral cooperation on trade.