Changing Developing Country Trade Policies and WTO Engagement

This paper focuses on developments in the engagement of developing countries in the multilateral trading system in light of the recent re-issue of Robert Hudec’s seminal book, Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System. Starting in the late 1980s, just after Hudec published his book, a major shift occurred in the trade policies of many developing countries. The major drivers of the associated reforms and their consequences for the approaches taken towards participation in the global trade regime are discussed. As a result of both policy and technological changes, some of which could not have been foreseen by Hudec, trade-related policy priorities for developing countries today are different from those that are the primary focus of GATT/WTO disciplines and Hudec’s analysis.