We’ll Always have Geneva: The Existential Crisis of the US-led Multilateral Trading System and the EU Reactions

Abstract

The chapter examines the EU’s reaction to the “existential crisis of the US-led multilateral trading system” brought about by the Trump administration. According to the author, the central takeaway is not the fact that the current US administration is considering measures potentially incompatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO), as many states have done that in the past, and pushing the envelope of legality has a long and distinguished pedigree. Instead, what is disturbing, is that WTO law compatibility seems to not be any longer part of the political calculus. In reaction to the US position, the EU has engaged in multiple efforts to strengthen its rules-based approach to international economic governance, seeking common ground and attempting to build bridges. The US measures concerning steel and aluminium, however, seem to call for a tougher response, but still based on international law rather than in contradiction with it. Indeed, by comparison the EU can be considered a poster child for the multilateral world order, its sometimes selective or even selfish treatment of international law notwithstanding.