How China can save the WTO and multilateral trade, and parry Trump’s tariff blows in the process
- David Dodwell says Beijing needs to consider two proposals to rescue global trade from Washington’s onslaught
- China should help Canada and the EU revamp the WTO, and seriously think about opening up its economy further, he writes
It is a tragic irony that the one international organisation forged by four decades of multilateral negotiation to liberalise and oversee global trade has sat silent as the world’s largest economy – and by far the greatest beneficiary of liberalisation – launches a systemic assault on the multilateral trading system and threatens a return to anarchy in trade that would harm us all.
China is not directly engaged in either initiative, but this must change if it is to parry US tariffs and gain credibility as a global player committed to multilateralism.
It must play an active role in drafting the reforms needed to make the WTO serve 21st-century purposes. And even more importantly, since many of the complaints about the WTO focus on China’s practices as a WTO member, it must seriously look at how it can open up and liberalise its own economy.
If Beijing fails to take a long, hard look at the state of reform in China, and does not play an important role in restoring the credibility of the WTO, then multilateralism is in jeopardy – and Beijing might have only itself to blame.