The International Trade Regime: GATT and WTO Evolutions and Impasses

This study aims at analyzing the evolution of the multilateral international trade regime and at problematizing the main contemporary challenges which are responsible for the internal weakening of this regime. The methodology was divided into three parts: first, a clarification of the basic concepts of the topic was carried out; next, the evolutionary process and the modifications within the international trade regime were analyzed; and finally, we examined the constituent process of the World Trade Organization and the main challenges in maintaining a trade regime that contributes to the multilateral dynamism of international trade relations. The results show the needs for reforms in the World Trade Organization agenda in order to take into consideration new players as well as the dynamics imposed by global value chains in the face of the challenge of parallel regulation of the new large blocks of regional integration.