The Evolution of the Global Trading System

Five years ago, Moises Naim observed in Foreign Policy that the need for effective multicountry collaboration had been rising steadily since the 1990s but attempts to craft multilateral agreements had consistently failed. “Minilateralism,” the notion of conducting international governance by assembling the fewest parties necessary for the largest effect, was Naim’s alternative in light of the repeated failure of “big” multiparty deals. The trading system faces just such a challenge today.