GENEVA - The World Trade Organisation's capacity to settle international disputes, a core function throughout the body's 25-year history, is on the brink of collapse following relentless US opposition.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo warned on Friday that the organisation was facing a stark choice. "This is a dispute between the 163 members of the WTO and the US," she told the European parliament last month. But top American trade officials have also insisted that the US Constitution does not permit a foreign court to supersede an American one - and that WTO appellate judges assert such superiority in international trade law.
Countries will still be able to file grievances and dispute panels can issue rulings, but nations unhappy with those rulings can simply delay enforcement by filing an appeal to a non-functioning court.