The World Trading System in Dire Straits: Legal Challenges, Tariff Disputes, and the Future of the World Trade Organization
A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 319
Special Issue Editors
Interests: international trade; foreign; comparative law
Interests: corporate law; antitrust; intellectual property law
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue examines the global trade implications of the United States’ Liberation and Trafficking tariffs, with a particular focus on the responses of China, Canada, and Mexico. These measures have raised fundamental questions about the resilience of the multilateral trading system and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in managing contemporary trade disputes. This Special Issue, therefore, invites contributions that analyze how individual countries have responded to these tariffs and what such responses reveal about the adaptability of the WTO framework.
Central themes include whether the WTO can continue to operate in its current form or whether the present challenges signal a need for reform and new directions in global trade governance. For chapters addressing specific countries, we welcome evaluations of national strategies and their broader implications for the multilateral system. For contributions focusing on institutions, we seek analyses of how these tariffs affect the functioning of the WTO and what this episode signals about the future of the world trading order.
By bringing together diverse perspectives, the aim of this Special Issue is to advance the general understanding of how trade policies, institutional responses, and international norms interact in an era of rising geopolitical and economic tensions. We especially encourage submissions that provide critical insights into the stability and adaptability of the WTO, as well as reflections on possible trajectories for the future of international trade relations.
Prof. Dr. Petros C. Mavroidis
Prof. Dr. Klemen Podobnik
Dr. Mislav Mataija
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- international trade
- WTO
- tariffs
- US trade policy
- China
- Canada
- Mexico
- multilateralism
- global trade governance
- trade disputes
- institutional resilience
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