U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke today at an event hosted by The Institute of International and European Affairs. Here is something she said on WTO dispute settlement reform:
On dispute settlement, ... I think that we need to come back to first principles ... . I know there's a lot of focus on the Appellate Body, and I completely understand why it's there on the Appellate Body and why it's there on us. But I want to expand the conversation to say that, ... as the WTO needs to be reformed to be responsive, so too does its dispute settlement function need to evolve as part of the institution, and I'll just say a couple words here. We are really excited -- we have started engaging with our partners -- we're really excited to bring a vision and to engage our vision with the visions and interests of all of the WTO members around ... what it is a dispute settlement function should provide.
We think most fundamentally it should facilitate the settlement of disputes between members. Second, I think that fundamentally as an institutional matter, it should reinforce and facilitate the functioning of the other aspects of the WTO, the negotiating function and also the monitoring function at the WTO, as opposed to stifling them. And third, when we talk about dispute settlement, let's ... ground it in the settlement of disputes and separate it out from the litigation aspect, which is only one method of settling disputes.
I don't disagree with any of this. My question is, what changes from existing rules do Tai and others at USTR think are needed to support this vision of WTO dispute settlement? Are there rule changes that would help facilitate settlement of disputes, or are the rules fine and the culture just needs to shift? Does dispute settlement currently stifle negotiating and monitoring? I've heard this suggested with regard to negotiations, but I'm skeptical. Nevertheless, if this is happening, what rule changes would help the situation? And finally, in what ways do they think settlement and litigation should be separated more than they already are?
