[…] The most urgent threat to the WTO has come from the United States disabling its dispute settlement mechanism by blocking appointments to the Appellate Body. The Appellate Body effectively acts as a supreme court for global trade. It hears appeals of WTO trade disputes, with more than two-thirds of WTO disputes typically reaching the Appellate Body. […]
The EU has led efforts to address the Appellate Body crisis, spearheading the creation of an interim appeals arrangement – the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) – to replace the now defunct Appellate Body. In effect, the EU has created an “Appellate Body minus the US”, encompassing most of the world’s major trading powers and users of the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism. Läs artikel