The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) goal of liberalizing multilateral trade does not exist in a vacuum; that is to say, liberalizing trade is not an end in itself. The preamble to the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (“Marrakesh Agreement”), explicitly states that “[t]he Parties to this Agreement, recognizing that their relations in the field of trade and economic [endeavor]...

IN 1995 when the WTO was established, it seemed to be final confirmation of the success of a system that had managed multilateral trade relations since 1947. It provided an institutional framework within which governments were not only able to negotiate reductions in trade barriers but also to bind themselves to rules of conduct that, in principle, were both universal and nondiscriminatory. Abo...