WTO report shows trade disputes rose in 2025 amid reform gridlock

The World Trade Organization on Wednesday published its 2026 Annual Report, documenting a rise in trade disputes and persistent structural challenges facing the multilateral trading system. WTO members launched 13 new disputes in 2025, up from 10 the previous year, even as the organization's broken appeals process remained unresolved.mlex

Trade Resilience Amid Tensions

In her opening message, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the global trading system faces challenges "on a scale not seen since its establishment 80 years ago," citing rapid technological change and rising geopolitical tensions. Despite those headwinds, global trade showed resilience in 2025: world merchandise trade grew by 4.6 percent in volume terms, while services trade expanded by 5.3 percent. Around 72 percent of global goods trade continues to flow under most-favored-nation tariff terms committed by WTO members.indexbox+2

Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the response to the Strait of Hormuz crisis, noting that countries adopted more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures — a contrast, she said, with initial responses to other recent crises.indexbox

Dispute Settlement and the Appellate Body Impasse

The increase in new disputes underscores a paradox at the heart of the WTO: members continue to file complaints through a system whose appellate function has been paralyzed since 2020, when the last sitting member of the Appellate Body saw their term expire and members failed to agree on replacements. The report identifies consensus-based decision-making, the erosion of the most-favored-nation principle, growing recourse to national-security exceptions, and unresolved development questions as central reform challenges, according to MLex.mlex

Reform Stalls After Cameroon Ministerial

The report covers the 14th Ministerial Conference held in Cameroon in March 2026, where ministers failed to adopt a workplan on reform. That outcome left open questions about how the organization will address its structural weaknesses, even as its members rely on its dispute and monitoring functions.indexbox+1

The full report, which also details the WTO's budget, staffing, and areas of activity, is available on the organization's website. French and Spanish editions are scheduled for publication in November.wto+1