The WTO has been playing an important role in international economic relations.It has brought the security and predictability through its comprehensive agreements and well-refined dispute settlement system.
While the WTO undoubtedly has succeeded in establishing the multilateral trading system, the Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999 revealed that the WTO now confronts several difficult challenges.The future of the WTO depends on how the WTO, particularly through the New Round launched in 2002, deals with these difficulties.
This paper addresses four among these new issues, including (i) trade and development, including implementation issues such as capacity building of developing countries, (ii) e-commerce, (iii) trade and environment, (iv) trade remedy laws, particularly antidumping.All of the four are targeted in the New Round, though emphasis to be placed varies from issue to issue.We analyze the background and argumentations of each issue, and lay out expected outcomes of the New Round regarding these issues.