By Vahini Naidu, South Centre, 1 September 2025
This paper examines the revisionist trade narrative advanced by the United States, which
portrays multilateral rules as disadvantageous and seeks to justify unilateral tariffs and
coercive bilateral arrangements. It demonstrates that the principles of non-discrimination
and reciprocity pre-date Bretton Woods and were embedded in the multilateral system
through U.S. initiatives from the 1930s through the creation of GATT in 1947. Far from
being disadvantaged, the U.S. has consistently shaped and benefitted from the system,
including through the Uruguay Round’s expansion of enforceable rules on services,
intellectual property, and investment. The analysis shows that the shift toward what has
been termed the “Turnberry system” risks fragmenting global markets, eroding the MFN
principle, and deepening structural asymmetries that leave developing countries more
vulnerable to exclusion. By correcting historical records, the paper underscores the
importance of defending multilateral guarantees of equal treatment while building
institutional capacity and strategic coordination to better safeguard development priorities
in an increasingly contested global order.
Read more here: https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Working-Paper-on-WTO-Reform-Rewriting-Trade-History-1-Sept-2025-1.pdf
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