What are the key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context of ‘Trade War’, especially keeping in mind the interest of India?

Tit-for-tat US–China tariffs, national-security duties and the paralysis of the Appellate Body since December 2019 — the US blocking appointments — have pushed the WTO towards irrelevance. MC12 (2022) promised a fully functioning dispute settlement system by 2024; MC13 (Abu Dhabi, 2024) could not deliver. With members increasingly settling disputes through bilateral pressure rather than in Geneva, reform is now existential — and India has concrete stakes in each area.

Key Areas of Reform

• Restore binding two-tier dispute settlement: appeals currently vanish 'into the void'; India, a frequent litigant that has stayed out of the interim MPIA, needs enforceable rulings against arbitrary tariffs.
• Preserve special and differential treatment and self-designation of developing-country status, which the US seeks to curtail through 'graduation' criteria — central to India's policy space.
• A permanent solution on public stockholding for food security: India's MSP-backed procurement rests on the Bali (2013) peace clause, which India has had to invoke for rice; the G33 demand must be settled.
• Discipline unilateralism and green protectionism: Section 232-style security tariffs and carbon border measures such as the EU's CBAM, which India calls disguised protectionism contrary to CBDR.
• Balanced fisheries subsidies rules that protect small artisanal fishers while historical subsidizers bear deeper cuts.
• Review the e-commerce moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions — a recurring revenue loss for developing countries that India and South Africa have sought to end.
• Defend consensus-based decision-making against plurilateral Joint Statement Initiatives whose legal status India contests.

Conclusion

A weakened WTO hurts a rules-dependent, non-hegemonic trader like India most. India should build issue-based coalitions — G33, the Africa Group, like-minded developing countries — to push reform that restores enforceability while keeping development at the organization's core, even as it hedges through bilateral trade agreements: multilateral rules remain India's best shield against tariff wars.