News Snapshot:
The vaccine blockade is just one example of how the power of the WTO to establish new trade rules and agreements is increasingly in doubt. Pandemic-affected governments are unsure whether open markets are still a goal worth pursuing, while protectionist trade policies often play better at home. Tensed relations between key players such as the US, China, the European Union and India are also helping to fuel an existential crisis in the 26-year-old world trade body. Failure to reach an agreement on vaccine patents or other lengthy disputes would raise more doubts about the WTO’s intent as more and more...
