Reform of global trade governance: the role of the European Union

The World Trade Organization (WTO) faces an existential crisis. Nominations to the Appellate Body (AB) are deadlocked; tariffs being raised and retaliated against; substantive negotiations stalled. A number of Members, including European Union (EU or Union) its Member States, convinced that WTO is in need profound reform, inter alia, with a view integrating developing countries further, addressing unfair subsidies state-owned enterprises (SoEs), optimizing dispute settlement mechanism (DSM). EU has recently presented several reform proposals. It also tightened domestic tools for enforcing trade obligations cooperating like-minded partners outside institutional framework WTO. present article looks into WTO’s challenges from perspective, critical analysis EU’s proposals while highlighting approach on tackling issues affect international economic order