Reckoning and Renewal: The World Trade Organization and Its Dispute Settlement System at 30 offers a timely and in-depth reflection on the evolution of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its dispute settlement system on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. In a decade marked by unprecedented challenges – including the US blockade of the WTO’s dispute resolution process, the rise of national security disputes, and the US–China trade war – this volume provides a critical reassessment of the WTO’s achievements, failures, and prospects for renewal.
Bringing together leading experts, the book examines the organization’s past, diagnoses the challenges facing its dispute settlement system, and explores potential reforms both within and beyond the WTO framework. This collection also celebrates the extraordinary career of Valerie Hughes – the first and only person to lead both the WTO’s Legal Affairs Division and its Appellate Body Secretariat – whose contributions have shaped the field of international trade law.
Featuring insights from Hughes’ colleagues, mentees, and students, this landmark volume is the first liber amicorum dedicated to a woman in international trade law, offering both a tribute and a roadmap for the future of global trade governance.
Preface
1. Introduction: Taking Stock of the World Trade Organization and Its
Dispute Settlement System at 30
Nicolas Lamp
Part 1: Reckoning The Origins, Functioning, and Crisis of WTO Dispute
Settlement
Building Domestic Capacity for WTO Dispute Settlement The Canadian
Experience
2. From Public International Law to International Economic Law: Valerie
Hughes and the Development of International Trade Law Expertise in Canada
Mark Jewett and Jonathan Fried
3. Developing a Government Trade Law Office: Canada, the Trade Law Bureau,
and Valerie Hughes
Rambod Behboodi
The Work of the Legal Affairs Division
4. The Evolution of the Appointment of WTO Adjudicators
Maria Pereyra and Carlo Cantore
5. Continuity and Renewal: Nurturing WTO Legal Talent through Internships at
the Legal Affairs Division
Daniel Ari Baker, Jenya Grigorova, and Rodd Izadnia
6. Bringing WTO Dispute Settlement into the 21st Century
Marisa Goldstein and Lizzie Medrano
7. The Role of the Secretariat in WTO Dispute Settlement Lessons from Other
Adjudicatory Bodies
Gabrielle Marceau and Maria George
Reflections on the Appellate Body
8. Building the Appellate Body: Lessons from the US Archives for Today's
Dispute Settlement Crisis
Simon Lester
9. Valerie Hughes The Light behind the Bushel of the Appellate Body of the
WTO
A.V. Ganesan
10. What Did We (I) Do Wrong? Reflections from an Appellate Body Member
Ricardo Ramirez
WTO Dispute Settlement and Developing Countries
11. Legal Advice, Assistance, and Training on WTO Dispute Settlement to
Developing and Least Developed Country Members and Observers
Jorge Castro and Fernando Piérola
12. Some Developing Countries Are More Equal Than Others: The Enduring
Challenge of Making Trade Dispute Settlement Work for All
Matéo Diego-Fernįndez Andrade
13. What Can Other Developing Countries Learn from Chinas Successful
Experience in the WTO Dispute Settlement System?
Henry Gao and Ji Wenhua
Specific Topics in WTO Dispute Settlement
14. The Past, Present, and Future of Disputes about Trade in Energy in the
WTO
Iain Sandford
15. WTO Disputes on Trade and Environment: Contributions of the Multilateral
Trading System to Effective Environmental Protection Policies
Mateo Ferrero
16. Where Angels Fear to Tread: The General Standard of Review in WTO Law
James Flett
17. Not So Member-Driven After All: How the GATT Secretariat Created the
WTO's Prospective Remedies
Geraldo Vidigal
Broader Reflections on WTO Dispute Settlement
18. 30 Years of Trade Concerns at the Goods Council: How Do They Relate to
Disputes under the DSU?
Roy Santana and Adeet Dobhal
19. Women in WTO Dispute Settlement: The Role of Individuals as Catalysts for
Gender Inclusion
Penelope Ridings
20. WTO Dispute Settlement 1.0 and the Intricate Cycle of Governance
Sivan Shlomo-Agon
21. Reflections on WTO Dispute Settlement as an International Dispute
Settlement Mechanism
Donald McRae
22. Is Perfect the Enemy of Good: Panel and Appellate Body Report Adoption at
Any Cost?
Chris Cochlin, Mallory Felix and Alexander Hobbs
Part 2: Renewal New Directions in Trade Dispute Settlement
The Turn to FTA Dispute Settlement
23. The Surprising Success of State-to-State Dispute Settlement under CUSMA
So Far
Anthony Vanduzer
24. Public Participation in FTA Disputes
Kathleen Claussen
25. The Role of WTO Jurisprudence in FTA Dispute Settlement
Michael Solursh
26. Treaty Interpretation by Dispute Settlement Panels under RTAs: The Case
of Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Dena Givari
27. Beyond the Shores of Lake Geneva: Does the WTO Secretariat Have a Role
to Play in FTA Dispute Settlement?
Scott Falls
The Turn to Arbitration and Dispute Settlement Reform
28. From Alabama to Airbus 150 Years of International Arbitration in
Geneva
Niall Meagher
29. Arbitration in WTO Dispute Settlement: A Temporary Instrument or the
Systems Future?
Müslüm Yilmaz
30. The MPIA: A Step on the Path to Revitalizing the WTO Dispute Settlement
System
Jan Bohanes
31. The Dispute Settlement Reform Discussions A New Approach
Marco Tulio Molina Tejeda
Part 3: Renewal The Rulemaking Dimension
32. An Immediate Role for the WTO in Fighting the Climate Crisis?
Jennifer Hillman
33. Disciplining Fossil Fuel Subsidies at the WTO: Building Momentum for
Reform
Ron Steenblik
34. #Tradeforwomen: Gender Mainstreaming in WTO Trade Agreements
Margaret M. Kim
35. The End of the "Single Undertaking" in WTO Negotiations
Andrew Stoler
36. Reforming the WTOs Dispute Settlement System Putting the Cart before
the Horse
Ujal Bhatia
Part 4: Concluding Reflections
37. Valerie Hughes as a Model and a Leader
Nadia Theodore
Nicolas Lamp is an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at Queens University.
