How to make sense of the Global Economy alongside a failing WTO?

Speaker: Dr. Mohan Kumar, Vice-Dean and Professor of Diplomatic Practice, OP Jindal School of International Affairs; Vice Chairman, RIS

 

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran

 

The WTO is clearly in the ICU! For years, the mantra in the West was that if a country followed principles of free trade espoused by the GATT/WTO then it was bound to become prosperous. More importantly, free trade was supposed to be a win-win and it was simply a matter of time before the benefits trickled down to all within the country. This thesis has been severely tested for the last decade or so. Curiously, it is precisely over the last decade or so that countries like China (and to a lesser extent India) have exploited both the WTO and Globalization to lift millions out of poverty. Interestingly, both the Global Economy and the WTO are at a crossroads