Alternative WTO?

February 19, 2025

The article poses that the World Trade Organisation is no longer effective and may be beyond recovery. One of the reasons for this decline seems to be the US’ aberrant behaviour.

One could pose the question whether an alternative WTO that excludes the US may serve as (temporary?) relief from the current problems. Well, there is an possible alternative that is being developed, namely BRICS. Joining BRICS may not please the US (and would likely produce more of the economic threats that Trump is happy to spray around), but sometimes it may be necessary to stand up to a bully to bring him back into line, especially if such a move would be co-ordinated with like-minded entities (Japan, South Korea, the EU?).

That, of course, requires political courage, innovative thinking and lots of conviction, none of which seem to be in great supply in our political system.