The Development Dimension

This book critically analyzes the World Trade Organization’s approach to “special and differential treatment” (SDT) to argue that it is founded on seeking exemptions from WTO obligations, instead of creating an enabling environment for developing countries to integrate fully into the multilateral trading system. Through six key sections:

• United States Proposal on Special and Differential Treatment
• Responses to United States Proposal
• The Evolution of Differential Treatment
• Failure of the Current Approach to Differential Treatment
• Complications Created by China’s Emergence in the Global Economy
• An Alternative Approach to Differential Treatment

this book explores how, by adopting a new evidence-based, case-by-case approach to SDT, the development of the poorest countries can best be advanced, while at the same time ensuring that advanced developing countries carry their weight in the organization.

It will be of interest to scholars and students of international trade law and political science, as well as trade practitioners such as lawyers, diplomats, and analysts.

1. Introduction
2. United States Proposal on Special and Differential Treatment
3. Responses to United States Proposal
4. The Evolution of Differential Treatment
5. Failure of the Current Approach to Differential Treatment
6. Complications Created by China’s Emergence in the Global Economy
7. An Alternative Approach to Differential Treatment
8. Conclusion

James Bacchus is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. He was a member of Congress (D‑FL) and a founder and twice chairman (chief judge) of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body. He is also the Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs and director of the Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida.

Inu Manak is research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies.