Outside voices: In praise of WTO plurilaterals

“Are plurilaterals the future of the WTO?” asks Keith Rockwell, longtime insider at the World Trade Organization, who then provides a multi-layered answer that points toward: Not necessarily, but maybe. Writing for the Hinrich Foundation, an Asia-focused group advocating sustainable trade, Rockwell says plurilaterals (formally called Joint Statement Initiatives) “have breathed new life into” an organization beset by “deepening deadlock” in multilateral negotiations. They are not the only answer, he surmises, “but these initiatives have lit a way forward and...