ABSTRACT
The 1995 establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was the capstone of a gradual process of global trade liberalization that started after World War II. The global trade regime played an important role in supporting globalization by providing a framework for countries to exchange trade policy commitments and establishing a mechanism to make these enforceable. This chapter presents a brief summary of major milestones and features of the institutional framework governing global trade. It discusses some of the key debates of the governance of the multilateral trade regime. The chapter outlines the major challenges and emerging issues that confront the WTO. Different approaches can be envisaged in pursuing cooperation on regulatory policies. The economic theory of trade agreements is premised on the notion that the motivation for governments to negotiate trade agreements is to improve access to export markets.
