Seems the WTO has lost the ability to judge trade disputes since the US has refused to approve new judges.GENEVA/TOKYO -- The World Trade Organization ceased to function in any meaningful way Wednesday due to the U.S.'s refusal to approve replacement judges to its top appellate body, making it unable rule on any trade disputes.
What is supposed to be a seven-member roster of jurists shrank to just one on Wednesday. Three judges are needed to review cases, meaning that 14 trade disputes already filed are currently up in the air, with one revolving around India's tariffs against Japanese steel imports.
Is this good or bad? Nobody wants to agree with Trump, yet this gives governments the latitude to control their trade preferences with other countries. Free trade has led to a lot of economic misery in certain cases, so now a progressive government would be able to protect jobs and workers
against changes in a way that couldnt be done before.