Mercy-Killing the WTO

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I almost fell out of my chair reading New York Times editorial writer Farah Stockman pronouncing the World Trade Organization all but dead—and good riddance. Wow!

I quote:

When the W.T.O. was born in the 1990s, faith in free markets was at a record high … But the power of the W.T.O. became a problem pretty quickly … The W.T.O. aimed to tackle a whole host of things that had little to do with traditional trade. That’s partly because of corporations, which lobbied their governments behind closed doors to rewrite the rules of trade to their advantage.

Investment banks pushed for financial deregulation around the world … Pharmaceutical companies pushed to extend their patents, complicating the efforts in developing countries to get access to generic, affordable drugs. Big agriculture companies pushed to lift bans on genetically modified food.

OMG! I’ve written stuff like this, but I’ve been a total outlier. You should read the whole piece.

Stockman goes on to point out that the WTO gives China’s protectionism a free pass, in the name of a bizarre view of free trade; that Trump did some useful damage in helping to demolish the WTO; and she cautions Joe Biden not to try to resurrect a global agency that was always a stooge for corporate interests. Double wow!

The WTO, in short, has been the enforcer of global neoliberalism and the scourge of a regulated economy that serves regular people. The lopsided results demolished jobs and economic security, discredited the Democratic Party, and helped bring us Trump.

For decades, criticism of the ruling ideology and its institutions got you editorial scoldings almost everywhere, as a flat-earth protectionist, a wicked nativist, and worse. Now even The New York Times recognizes the reality.

In the heyday of the WTO and the ideology that it carried out, a small but resolute band of truth-tellers exposed what was really going on. A special shout-out to Lori Wallach, Clyde Prestowitz, Deborah James, Mike Wessel, James Mann, Pat Mulloy, Dani Rodrik, Kevin Gallagher, and Tom Kruse, among others; a tip of the hat to Trump’s only good appointee, Bob Lighthizer; and bon courage to the new U.S. trade rep, Katherine Tai.

There is a Hebrew prayer called the Shehechiyanu, praising God for allowing us to reach this day. Amen.

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