The Evolution of GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement

Despite debuting to little fanfare under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been called the “backbone of the multilateral trading system.” Indeed, whereas GATT dispute settlement could scarcely have seemed more flawed, the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) is widely touted for boosting confidence in an increasingly rules-based global economy. Why such starkly different views of GATT and WTO dispute settlement? The conventional wisdom is that the GATT’s diplomatic norms have been supplanted by the WTO’s more legalistic architecture, resulting in a system in which “right perseveres over might.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, many observers insist that a wider variety of Members—and developing countries, in particular—are achieving more favourable results in dispute settlement due to the reforms introduced with the DSU and the WTO’s greater clarity of law.