Dan Ikenson of the Cato Institute and Robert Lighthizer of Skadden debate the fairness of the WTO dispute settlement system at CFR's web site. Some excerpts:
Ikenson:
... under what other international arrangements can a tiny country like Antigua and Barbuda win condemnation—and, in all likelihood, compel reform—of the offending policies of the largest economy in the world?
Lighthizer:
... WTO jurists have engaged in an all-out assault on trade remedy measures. Even legal experts hostile to these laws, as well as the Bush Administration, have expressed astonishment at the level to which panels are simply writing new requirements into the WTO agreements. In this same vein, the Safeguard Agreement has become a virtual dead letter—with every measure brought before the WTO struck down, and the legal hurdle set so high that few view the judicially established standard as achievable.
