India must infuse flexibility in policy amid shifting global trade dynamics

India needs to develop a better understanding of the evolving dynamics of global trade institutions and trade rules among its trade negotiators

As India navigates its way through global, regional and bilateral trade negotiations, it is important to understand that evolving global trade trends are also accompanied by shifting contours of global trade institutions and rules. Foremost among these is the need to recognise that the evident debilitation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is due to the blunting of its central pillar of dispute resolution by the US, rather than the “spaghetti bowl effects” of preferential trade agreements (PTAs), as propounded by some economists in the 1990s.

 

PTAs acquired greater significance in the early 2000s, with increased depth and coverage of