DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY

INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW

IS US ABANDONING RULES BASED MULTILATERAL

INTERNATIONAL TRADING SYSTEM

SYNOPSIS

SUBMITTED BY: UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

RISHI SEHGAL Ms. PRIYA ANURAGINI

ENROLMENT NUMBER: 150101112 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (LAW)

SECTION: ‘B’ DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA

B.A. LLB (Hons.), SEMESTER VII NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SIGNATURE OF STUDENT SIGNATURE OF PROFESSOR

AIM/ OBJECTIVES

The WTO is a global trade body aimed primarily at setting rules for international commerce,
settling disputes between its 163 members, and providing a global forum for negotiating lower
trade barriers. Its goal, according to the organization, is “to help producers of goods and
services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.” Established in 1995 and based in
Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), an organization founded in 1948 whose rules created the modern multilateral trading
system. However in recent times this rules-based multilateral trade and financial system created
at Bretton Woods in 1944 has started to come under the burner as a result of US President’s actions.

President Donald Trump is hardly the first American president to slap unilateral tariffs on
imports. Every inhabitant of the Oval Office since Jimmy Carter has imposed some kind of
protectionist curbs on trade, often on steel. Trump’s decision to put 25% tariffs on steel and
10% on aluminium only sow the seeds of uncertainty in the global economy at a critical
juncture with WTO director general Roberto Azevedo commenting: “Whether or not you call
it a trade war, certainly the first shots have been fired.” Not only has the Trump administration
put international trade in doldrums but is challenging the very existence of the US in the post-
war rules-based multilateralism, which, despite its limitations, has made efforts to bring order
in the way sovereign states engage in trade.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Is US protectionism a threat to the existence of WTO ?

2. Are the tariffs justified in lieu of the economy of the US?
3. Is this a challenge to the rise of Chinese power in world trade?
4. What will be the challenges faced by the US as a result of abandoning the WTO?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The methodology to be used for the completion of the project is literary in nature; various
books and articles will be consulted for understanding the topic.

REFERENCES/ LITERATURE CONSULTED

1. Madison Cartwright, Trump and Trade: The End of Multilateral Trade Governance?

https://www.e-ir.info/2018/07/26/trump-and-trade-the-end-of-multilateral-trade-

governance/
2. Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, US Exit From WTO Would Unravel Global Trade, Trade &

Investment Watch, Peterson Institute for International Econonmics,

https://piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/us-exit-wto-would-unravel-

global-trade

3. The Economist, The rules based system is in grave danger.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/03/08/the-rules-based-system-is-in-grave-

danger.