Industrial Policy Evades WTO Discipline

Global trade rules largely police tariffs and explicit trade barriers, but the most powerful trade distortions today come from industrial, financial, and labor policies that shift income toward production and away from consumption. Because the WTO’s rulebook ignores many of those levers, it risks irrelevance as states weaponize industrial strategy and capital flows to secure external demand. — If true, this reframes trade governance: saving the WTO requires addressing industrial and macroeconomic policies, not just negotiating tariff lines.