Recent survey evidence illustrates that many World Trade Organization (WTO) members and trade practitioners believe that the WTO dispute settlement system needs improvement. We make several proposals to improve the operation of WTO conflict resolution, drawing on proposals made by WTO members in the long-running negotiations to improve WTO dispute settlement procedures. We argue that a focus on technical dimensions of dispute settlement is insufficient to prevent a steady decline in the salience of the organization. Revitalizing the WTO as a forum for rule-making is needed both to address the cross-border policy spillovers driving trade conflicts between the major trading powers and to improve WTO conflict resolution. Principals – WTO members – should accept that negotiations to clarify and extend existing rules must be an element of a robust system of dispute settlement and that bolstering WTO dispute settlement is a necessary condition for nascent efforts at plurilateral rule-making to be successful.

中文翻译：

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防止坏事变得更糟：我们所知道的世界末日（贸易组织）？

最近的调查证据表明，许多世界贸易组织（WTO）成员和贸易从业者认为，WTO争端解决机制需要改进。我们借鉴世贸组织成员在长期谈判中提出的改进世贸组织争端解决程序的建议，提出了若干改进世贸组织冲突解决运作的建议。我们认为，对争端解决的技术层面的关注不足以防止该组织的显着性稳步下降。为了解决推动主要贸易大国之间贸易冲突的跨境政策溢出效应和改善 WTO 冲突的解决，需要重振 WTO 作为规则制定论坛的地位。