Former WTO Deputy Director-General Yi Xiaozhun: Beware of WTO reform being used to reverse globalization

2026-04-08 11:43:53

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【Caixin】 The United States has launched a tit-for-tat tariff war aimed at the world at large, posing a threat of “survival or demise” to the multilateral trading system. The reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) should, in the current context, make addressing this issue a core agenda item. At the “Peking University Shenzhen Forum 2026,” held on March 28, Yi Xiaozhun, former Deputy Director-General of the WTO, former Ambassador of China to the WTO, and former Deputy Minister of Commerce, put forward the above views.

Yi Xiaozhun said that for more than 70 years since the multilateral trading system was established, the overall direction of WTO reform has consistently been to promote trade liberalization and facilitation. But at this stage, with globalization “receding” and trade protectionism on the rise, WTO reform could be used by certain countries to advance trade protectionism and “reverse the clock” on globalization.

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