In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Keith Rockwell, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, to examine why the WTO has reached an existential turning point as longstanding principles such as MFN treatment and consensus decision-making come under growing strain, and why modest reforms may not be enough to revive a system rooted in decades-old rules.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing mounting pressure as its core rules and negotiating processes struggle to keep pace with a more fragmented and politicized global economy. What was once designed as a forum for consensus among a small group of 23 like-minded economies has become increasingly difficult to manage with 166 members and divergent interests. At the same time, key principles such as “most-favoured-nation" (MFN) treatment and consensus decision-making — once central to the system’s transparency and predictability — are now contributing to the WTO’s institutional paralysis.

Rockwell argues that the current crisis has been years in the making, pointing to early warning signs such as governments blocking even routine steps like approving meeting agendas, as well as a growing shift toward plurilateral agreements among groups of willing members.

As governments explore alternative pathways outside the WTO framework, the risk is not only institutional drift but a broader shift in how global trade rules are written. The discussion examines what happens if the WTO can no longer deliver and what is at stake for the global trading system.

Tune in to this podcast as Keith Rockwell, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to unpack the WTO’s growing paralysis and dysfunction, from blocked negotiations to the rise of plurilateral agreements, and what this means for global trade governance. The podcast follows up on Rockwell’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “In dire distress: Modest reforms won’t save the WTO.”

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Tune into the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast series for insights on international trade.