The Political Economy of WTO Implementation and China’s Approach to Litigation in the WTO

Abstract

There is no gainsaying that international trade is the fulcrum of the world economy. No country can function meaningfully without trade or economic relations with other countries. At the heart of the global trade is the World Trade Organization (WTO), an organization that fulfilled the dreams of state parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) by replacing and expanding on the powers and reach of the GATT. Two areas that the WTO stands out in relation to the GATT, are the institutionalization of global trade administration by way of the WTO and the placement of rule of law and its efficacious adjudication as the nucleus of the WTO. This was the outcome of the Uruguay round of international trade negotiations in 1994/95.