Failure to reform WTO may prompt some countries to seek other free-trade options

Next week's World Trade Organization meeting risks failing to chart a viable reform path, and diplomats say such a failure would push members to pursue alternative ways to set rules and advance free trade. That shift could accelerate plurilateral or bilateral trade arrangements, increasing fragmentation of trade governance and raising policy uncertainty for export-dependent sectors and global supply chains.

Analysis

Next week's World Trade Organization meeting risks failing to chart a viable reform path, and diplomats say such a failure would push members to pursue alternative ways to set rules and advance free trade. That shift could accelerate plurilateral or bilateral trade arrangements, increasing fragmentation of trade governance and raising policy uncertainty for export-dependent sectors and global supply chains.