Proposals made a year ago may point to a way out of WTO panel crisis

UNLESS the Trump administration relents by Dec 10, the highest dispute resolution agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will cease to function.

And without a functioning appeals system, trade disputes will never see finality. The seven-person appellate panel, already down to the minimum three required to issue final decisions, will be reduced to one as two more panellists end their terms on that day. Washington seems determined to block every attempt to replace the retiring panellists.

And if that prospect were not enough, Washington has also floated the idea that the US may thwart the adoption of the organisation's biennial budget. As adopting it needs the consensus of all its 164 members, any such move would see the shut down of the WTO as early as Jan 1. The US is the largest contributor - 22.7 million Swiss francs (S$31 million) in 2019 - of its total budget of 197.2 million Swiss francs.