In this episode of the Global Economy Podcast, Fredrik Erixon speaks with Stuart Harbinson, former WTO Ambassador and senior fellow at ECIPE, about the state of global trade, the Trump tariffs, and the future of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
They explore the erosion of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle, the rise of bilateralism, and the threat this poses to multilateral trade rules. The discussion highlights historical lessons, the limits and opportunities for WTO reform, and the role of the WTO Secretariat. Harbinson also offers pragmatic insights into dispute settlement, the MPIA, and possible paths forward for preserving the multilateral trading system.
Read Stuart’s blog “The WTO in the Age of Trump’s Trade Bullying – Should There Be WTO Reform?“.
You can watch a video recording of this conversation here.
You can read a transcript of the chat here.
Stuart Harbinson had a distinguished career in public service in Hong Kong. From 1994 to 2002 he represented Hong Kong, and then the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, in the WTO in Geneva. He subsequently joined the WTO Secretariat as Chief of Staff to Director-General Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi and then became Senior Adviser to Director-General Pascal Lamy. He has rich experience as a former Chairman of a number of WTO bodies, including the TRIPS and Services Councils, and the Dispute Settlement Body. He was Chairman of the WTO’s overarching body, the General Council overseeing preparations for the launch of the Doha round, and of the negotiating group handling the formative stages of the Doha negotiations on agriculture. He has also chaired a number of WTO dispute settlement panels. After leaving the WTO, he worked in the UNCTAD Secretariat and for international law firms in Geneva, and has undertaken several trade-related technical assistance projects. He currently serves as a part time adviser on international trade for Penta Group, the world’s first comprehensive stakeholder solutions firm.