The Sutherland Report and Dispute Settlement

Abstract

This essay evaluates the treatment of dispute settlement in the recently issued Sutherland Report on the future of the WTO. While the Report is moderate in language and scope, several important elements tend in the direction of strengthening the WTO as an institution. I argue that these elements may be counterproductive. Increasing the demands of WTO membership - for example, by enlarging the organization's scope and making its rulings more binding - seems more likely at this point to result in greater suspicion and resistance. Empowering the WTO in some of the ways that the Report suggests could actually retard, rather than advance, the cause of freer global trade.