Императив реформирования ВТО в эпоху роста протекционизма и торговых войн

Вестник международных организаций: образование, наука, новая экономика. 2019. Т. 14. № 2. С. 304–318.

Портанский А.П.

The article substantiates/justifies the necessity of reform of the major institution of global economic governance, the World Trade Organization. A number of the accumulated crucial problems of the existing multilateral trading system, the MTS, is explored: the problem of development and efficiency of the WTO in the new environment, weakening of the leading role of the US, regionalism, crisis of the decision-making system in the WTO  and the recent rise of trade protectionism. All these challenges in sum point to the necessity of WTO reform, the latter two being particularly pressing, since they eventually moved the issue from the realm of scientific discussions into the realm of practical initiatives. The author analyzes the first steps of the WTO members towards the organization’s reform taken in 2018, focusing on the EU Concept Paper on WTO modernization, which was the first such initiative among other countries. An emphasis is given to the pivotal role of the positions of the US and China since without these actors it is hardly possible to successfully continue the process of WTO reform. The controversial position of the US, formed largely under the influence of the current isolationist and protectionist trade policy of the Trump Administration, is given an in-depth analysis. The author comes to the preliminary conclusion that the process of WTO reform is bound to be extremely complicated and may take years.

Keywords: Многосторонняя торговая система, ГАТТ, GATT, Multilateral Trading System, Реформа ВТО, WTO reform, mega-regional trade agreements, Мегарегиональные торговые соглашения