But developing nations like India are watchful against the possibility of this further marginalising their core development priorities.
India needs to be careful to ensure that the foundational principles of the WTO, of consensus in rule-making, fairness, equity and protection of vulnerable sections, including farmers and the poor, are not diluted, warn experts.
“Developed members like the US and EU are pushing for more flexible rule-making, including expanding plurilateral agreements (that don’t include the entire WTO membership) and reconsidering core WTO principles like consensus-based decisions, Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, and Special & Differential Treatment (S&DT),” according to the World Trade and Development Report brought out by research body RIS on Saturday.
In contrast, a significant number of developing members have emphasised the systemic importance of preserving these foundational principles, which are critical for the survival of the WTO as a system, emphasising their importance in ensuring fairness, predictability, and equitable participation in the global trading system,” it said.
At MC14, ministers’ discussions on reform will include foundational issues regarding the WTO, decision-making and past mandates, development and level-playing field issues, per the WTO.
Focus will also be on restoring the dispute settlement system, that has been paralysed by the US, through measures including resolving the impasse over appointments to the Appellate Body.
India will need to ensure that the ongoing push for reforms does not sideline its core priorities, including a permanent solution on public stockholding (PSH) for food security, its opposition to the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement, a balanced outcome on fisheries subsidies, and the long-standing issue of the moratorium on customs duties on e-transmissions.
New Delhi is expected to stress that any reform agenda must first address these unresolved, development-centric concerns and mandated issues, rather than shifting focus to new or plurilateral initiatives that could dilute the interests of developing members, an official tracking the matter said.
At MC13 in Abu Dhabi in 2024, India had been particularly critical of the IFD Agreement, arguing that it was a plurilateral initiative being pushed without consensus and fell outside the WTO’s multilateral mandate. India maintains that such agreements risk creating parallel rule-making tracks that could erode the principle of inclusivity and weaken the organisation’s consensus-based framework.
India should work to retain the foundational principles of the WTO, including MFN, consensus decision making, SDT, said international trade expert Abhijit Das. “It must watch out for attempts to convert WTO into an institution for negotiating plurilateral agreements,” he said.
The WTO gridlock is intensifying as a more empowered Global South refuses to agree to deals that ignore their national interests. Simultaneously, developed members like the US and EU are stalling progress on long-standing mandates critical to developing nations.
The Trump administration’s use of `reciprocal tariffs’ and other taxes by passing the WTO’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle (where all members need to be treated the same) fundamentally challenges the core architecture of the WTO.
Published on March 22, 2026