Drab WTO Reforms The U.S. has motivated other major WTO members to seek reforms for the organization, and the latest list of proposals reveals how moribund the institution can look from the outside. The U.S. proposed the most basic expectation by members – transparency. Now the EU, China and nine other members have proposed such basic bureaucratic functions as documenting trade issues that arise in committee meetings, formalizing their handling (advance notice, query and response, etc.) and, ultimately, having an informal discussion about resolving them. Developing countries typically have one excuse for noncompliance with procedural requirements, and that is a lack of resources. The proponents of reform recommend these countries si...

TAGS – China, Europe, North America