The crisis at the WTO is best illustrated by the mountain of unresolved disputes and the growing number of so-called "trade concerns" among members.
Since the end of 2019, the United States has blocked the appointment of new judges to the WTO's Appellate body because of complaints about judicial overreach, and 29 cases have therefore remained pending, dealing a heavy blow to the dispute settlement system.
"No more deception, no more pretending you're appealing," former WTO deputy Director General Alan Wolf said at a WTO meeting last month. Wto members have vowed to resolve the issue in 2024, and he urged a moratorium on new appeals from that date.
The WTO warned last month that if left unchecked, a surge in unilateral measures would tear the world economy apart, cutting global incomes by 5 percent.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump imposed punitive tariffs on goods from China and other countries. Import restrictions have since been eased, but the decline has been more than offset by an increase in export restrictions.
From 2016 to 2019, export restrictions were imposed an average of 21 times a year, but increased to 139 times last year.
This has led to a surge in the number of "concerns" raised at the WTO. This includes subsidies spawned by clean energy technologies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the ongoing European Union investigation into subsidies for Chinese electric vehicle companies.
The Buy American Act would increase requirements for materials made in the United States, while the European Union, which still touts compliance with World Trade Organization rules, has subsidies and targets to increase local supply and green production of key minerals.
Keith Rockwell, a senior fellow at the Halliday Foundation, said the WTO was "dangerously close to being ignored."
For Washington, the driving force behind a rules-based trading system, the WTO is now "off the radar," he added.
The 164 members generally agree that the WTO is in need of reform, but any adjustment requires a comprehensive consensus.
Some believe that the reform is focused on restoring the appellate body, but this is not something the United States is willing to accept.
A Geneva-based WTO representative said the Biden administration appeared to believe that further trade liberalization was not in the U.S. interest, a view likely to be solidified in 2024, a U.S. presidential election year.
"If they don't think it's in their own interest, that undermines the role of the WTO to some extent," the delegate said.