The WTO’s Trade Policy Review Mechanism: How to Create Political Will for Liberalization

The economic crisis has sparked fears about emerging protectionism and created wide interest in initiatives to monitor trade policies. The WTO regularly examines its members’ trade policies – but its reports are superficial and uncritical. In this new working paper, Valentin Zahrnt argues that these reports need a thorough overhaul to make a better case for liberal reform and serve as a more effective reference in domestic policy debates. Food for thought ahead of the WTO Ministerial Meeting end-November 2009 that is explicitly dedicated to systemic issues in the world trading system.