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By James McBride, Council on Foreign Relations–

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the principal forum for setting the rules of international trade. Consisting of 164 member countries, which together account forover 97 percent of world trade, the WTO has expanded steadily over the past two decades, helping to reduce barriers to trade in both goods and services and boosting global economic output.

However, the WTO’s efforts to advance its trade liberalization agenda have been beset by controversy. Since the launch of the so-called “Doha Development Agenda” in 2001, advanced and developing economies have disagreed on topics ranging from agricultural subsidies to intellectual property rights. As negotiations stalled, countries turned to signing dozens of separate bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs), raising questions about the relevance of the WTO. While the WTO’s leadership billed the agreements reached at WTO meetings in Bali in 2013 and Nairobi in 2015 as breakthroughs for the Doha agenda, experts remain divided over the WTO’s role in advancing trade liberalization, regulatory cooperation, and deepening economic integration.