The Dilemma And Response Of WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism

In 2016,the United States rejected John Zhang and re-election on the grounds that Judge John Zhang of the Korean Appellate Body and the relevant ruling in the trade dispute involving the United States did not conform to international trade rules.Since then,the United States has repeatedly blocked the start of the appeal body judge selection process.By December 10,2019,the appeal body was paralyzed because there was only one judge left.U.S.persistent obstruction of nomination has once again brought the reform of WTO dispute settlement mechanism into public view.The dissatisfaction of the United States with the WTO dispute settlement mechanism has its subjective factors,but it is undeniable that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism has its own institutional problems and cannot adapt to the new international trade and economic environment.In order to prevent the WTO dispute settlement mechanism from being marginalized,the WTO dispute settlement mechanism needs to be reformed urgently.At the same time,the current world economic pattern is undergoing earth-shaking changes.The economic and trade strength of emerging countries is continuously developing and growing,while the competitive advantage of traditional trading powers is continuously declining.Emerging countries are no longer passive recipients of trade rules,but the subjects who have a certain say in the formulation of trade rules.Therefore,the reform of dispute settlement mechanism should adapt to the current situation of international economic and trade development and give consideration to the interests of developing countries.By using the methods of literature research and comparative research,this paper analyzes the disadvantages of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and its solutions,hoping to provide theoretical reference for coping strategies when other dispute settlement mechanisms cannot operate and enrich the results of WTO theoretical research.This article is divided into three chapters.The first chapter is an overview.Firstly,it gives a basic overview of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,introduces its historical evolution and operation mechanism,and lists the current difficulties faced by the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.The dilemma is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first,lack of transparency,the transparency of WTO dispute settlement mechanism has been widely criticized,and its impartiality has been questioned by WTO members;Second,because the United States continues to obstruct the selection process,the judges of the appellate body cannot reach the legal minimum number to hear the case,cannot continue to hear the appeal case,and the appellate body is essentially "paralyzed".Third,the unsatisfactory implementation results have greatly reduced the efficiency and authority of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.The second chapter analyzes the causes of the difficulties faced by WTO dispute settlement mechanism.The lack of transparency is due to both the provisions on confidentiality in DSU and the institutional reasons that restrict public participation in dispute settlement procedures,as well as subjective factors that the parties to the dispute refuse to disclose.The obstruction in the selection of members of the Appellate Body includes not only the objective factors of the Appellate Body’s difficulty in strictly observing the trial limit and the Appellate Body’s "judicial law-making",but also the subjective factors of the Trump administration’s deliberate destruction of any unfavorable trade order in the United States based on the "US first" policy.The reasons for the drawbacks of the execution procedure include the long execution period,which leads to the untimely relief of rights,the unfavorable retaliation system for developing countries,and the ineffective supervision of the later execution.The third chapter puts forward countermeasures against the difficulties faced by WTO dispute settlement mechanism.Improving transparency can be achieved by amending DSU confidentiality provisions and improving the amicus curiae system."Arbitration" can be used as an alternative to the dispute settlement to solve the crisis of the appellate body,and the establishment of multilateral and regional trade agreements can solve the urgent problems.It can also break the deadlock in the selection of the appellate judges and make the appellate body survive.Through the establishment of "implementation review procedures" and the strengthening of implementation supervision,the implementation procedures will be improved.