Integrating the UN SDGs into WTO Law

This is an open access book. Sustainable development is so important that humanity must do its utmost to achieve these goals for the well-being of the present and future generations. WTO members have started to reform WTO rules since the WTO’s Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference in 2017. The book describes a possible bright future for readers: WTO members can integrate the UN SDGs into WTO law (i.e., create sustainable trade rules) by establishing a sustainable development club and constitutionalising the WTO. 

Introduction.- Part I: WTO Law: An Impediment to the Implementation of the UN SDGs.- The Lack of Trade-Related Sustainable Development Commitments in WTO Law.- WTO Law’s Constraints on National Regulation.- Part II: Reconciling WTO Law with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.- The Sustainability Test.- Balancing Sustainability Elements.- Part III: Integrating Sustainability into WTO Law.- The Constitutionalisation of the WTO: An Ideal Methodology.- Progress in Embedding Sustainability into WTO Rules.- The Sustainable Development Club: A Practical Approach.- Potential Trade Rules and Policies of the Sustainable Development Club.- Suggestions for the Next Steps.- Conclusion.

Xinyan Zhao is a teaching fellow at Durham University. Prior to joining Durham, Xinyan was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy at the University of Sussex. He specialises in WTO law and trade policy, with a particular focus on trade and sustainable development. Xinyan holds a PhD in International Economic Law from the University of Lausanne. In 2020, Xinyan was a research intern at the University of Montreal (Canada). He has authored several scholarly publications and is actively engaged in the global academic community.