EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom warned in a conference in France that WTO is in “deep crisis” and “we have to recognize this”. In particular, she said “if the appellate body collapses, which probably it will in December – at least temporarily – we will have no enforcement. And if you have no rules everybody can do whatever they want.”
At the same conference, WTO Director General Alan Wolff said “you get into a possible scenario where a country that lost (a case) says we appeal but there is no appeal which means the panel is not final. Then, “you could go to retaliation and counter-retaliation, which is what has happened between the U.S and China, which is certainly not good for the world.”
