When the World Trade Organization was established in 1995 to set rules for international trade and to rule between countries in disputes, it was strong and popular, and unlike most international bodies it had a dispute settlement mechanism that was used on a large scale.

In a report published in the American New York Times, writer Farah Stockman said that the decisions of the World Trade Organization were decisive, and if the WTO judges decided that a country did not abide by the rules, they could authorize the imposition of retaliatory customs duties so that the victims could Compensate for their losses.

Even the United States, which is a great power, generally obeyed the rulings of the 7-member WTO Appellate Body, and if a member state has a law that conflicts with the WTO treaty, it should be repealed.

Paralysis of the trade organization

The author pointed out that the World Trade Organization is now completely exhausted and lost its prestige, and the two largest economies, China and the United States, are fighting a trade war and issuing reciprocal fees that violate its rules, and no one fears the wrath of the appellate body anymore, because this authority has stopped working, as it has not been appointed. New judges to replace the old judges who had expired.

It is believed that the situation of the World Trade Organization has reached this bad because of Donald Trump's decisions, but this opinion is not entirely correct, despite the fact that Trump paralyzed the WTO by refusing to appoint new judges so that he does not have to abide by the decisions he does not like, the WTO Global was in decline long before it was bullied by Trump.

Even if President-elect Joe Biden is determined to help reform the World Trade Organization, he cannot undo what Trump has done, and true recovery requires searching within the system for the main defect.

When the World Trade Organization was created in the 1990s, faith in free markets was at a record level, the Soviet Union had just collapsed, and the United States, the world's only superpower at the time, embraced a sincere belief in the unfettered power of capitalism to improve lives around the world.

The Americans pushed more than 100 countries to join efforts to create a strong international body to remove barriers to international trade and protect investors, and the weaker countries agreed to the agreement because in theory it means that they will no longer be at the mercy of the powerful.

The World Trade Organization has stopped operating because new judges have not been appointed to replace the old ones whose terms of service have expired (Getty Images)

Disrupt the organization

The strength of the World Trade Organization soon became a big problem. Domestic laws and programs that hindered "free trade" were abolished. The World Trade Organization also ordered countries to put in place programs that encourage renewable energy and laws that protect workers from unfair foreign competition, as if international trade was more Significance of climate change and workers' rights.

The World Trade Organization was not only strong, but also ambitious, unlike the previous trade structure known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade that dealt mainly with tariffs, and the WTO aimed to address a whole range of issues that had nothing to do with traditional trade, This is partly because companies have pressured their governments behind closed doors to rewrite trade rules in their favor.

And it pushed investment banks to lift financial controls around the world, while pharmaceutical companies sought to expand the scope of their patents, complicating efforts in developing countries to access generic medicines at affordable prices.

The author pointed out that the ability of the World Trade Organization to make decisions has become more questionable after the authority turned a blind eye to China's bad behavior, and its judges ruled against government subsidies directed to the manufacture of locally produced solar panels in the United States and India, on the grounds that they are unfair to foreign producers. When the large set of subsidies that China provides to support its industries was not a problem at all.

The World Trade Organization seemed late and unworthy, and now that the global economy is in tatters due to the epidemic and the climate change crisis, the WTO is in despair, waiting to know if Joe Biden will save it.

Solutions to the crisis

There are some quick solutions that the Biden administration should support, such as appointing a new general manager, and it seems that everyone - except Trump - loves Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, who may become the first woman and the first African to hold the position, but Biden should not rush to fill in Vacancies in the appellate body.

And the world has a historic opportunity to change the direction of international trade rules and create more space for countries to experiment with solutions to climate change and income inequality, and countries around the world can use stimulus funds to make strategic investments in green energy with subsidies, and this is what the Biden plan is about. Better, "but the plan risks flouting WTO rules in many respects.

That is why the next administration should take advantage of this moment to try to reach agreement on some of the deep issues that have caused the current situation.

Among the reasons why the world has avoided these difficult talks for so long is that litigation is easier than negotiating, and now that this option has been removed, member states of the World Trade Organization may be able to craft an agreement to meet the requirements of this moment.

There are hopeful signs that Biden is intending to do just that, and Jared Bernstein, one of his veteran economic advisers, has long argued that global trade rules should be modified to meet the needs of ordinary people, not just companies.