How to Reform the WTO? [Audio]

Speaker(s): Ambassador Dr Jesus Seade, Sir Vince Cable, Dr Swati Dhingra, Piroska Nagy Mohacsi | The selection of the World Trade Organization's new Director General presents an opportunity for reform, but it could also result in a further weakening of the institution. Nominations for the position have just closed. LSE is organising a mini-series of presentations and discussions with the candidates. The first of the candidates to present their vision for globalisation, trade and the WTO will be Dr Jesus Seade, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and Mexico’s chief negotiator of the USMCA, the US, Mexico and Canada Trade Agreement (successor of NAFTA) which came into force on July 1 this year. Multilateral institutions are increasingly being challenged in recent years. One important criticism is that leaders for these organisations are not selected in a competitive and transparent manner. Promoting a stronger selection process should help enhance the legitimacy of these institutions. Calls for change have been particularly strong at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the global body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Vince Cable (@vincecable) is Professor in Practice at the Institute of Global Affairs, LSE. Sir Vince is the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (2010-2015) and represented the constituency of Twickenham as a Liberal Democrat MP and was party leader from 2017-19. Swati Dhingra (@swatdhingraLSE) is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the LSE, researching globalisation and industrial policy. Jesus Seade (@JesusSeade) is a candidate for WTO Director-General; Chief Negotiator of the USMCA, the US, Mexico and Canada Trade Agreement (successor of NAFTA); and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. Piroska Nagy Mohacsi (@NagyMohacsi) is Programme Director, Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE School of Public Policy. Erik Berglof (@ErikBerglof) is the inaugural Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) at LSE. He joined the School as a Professor in Practice in the Department of Economics. This event in the series has been organised by the Institute of Global Affairs and the School of Public Policy. The Institute of Global Affairs (@LSEIGA) aims to maximise the impact of LSE's leading expertise across the social sciences by shaping inclusive and locally-rooted responses to the most important and pressing global challenges. The School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Our approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19