If the U.S. doesn’t support reforms to the World Trade Organization (WTO) or prevents the body from properly functioning, other major economies could look to create an alternative body, former Chinese central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said.
If a consensus on WTO reforms can’t be reached, one solution could be a new organization including China and the EU based on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Zhou suggested at a roundtable jointly held by Caixin and Spanish think tank Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid in late May.
The CPTPP is a free-trade agreement involving 11 countries, including Japan and Canada. The agreement, which took effect in December, represents the next generation of trade and investment rules in multiple areas and could be used as a model for WTO reforms, multiple experts said.
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