Expanding the WTO’s Scope in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape: An Appraisal of Development, Environment, and Inclusiveness Agendas

Despite ongoing challenges to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) core agenda, many members are pushing for the organisation to deepen its commitments and increase its activities in support of trade-related agendas. This report looks at efforts to further expand the global trade regime to the areas of development, the environment, and inclusiveness. While some members view these issues as essential to maintaining the WTO’s relevance or rebalancing its core agenda, others favour a narrower focus on trade. Drawing on 42 interviews conducted in Geneva or online (from late 2024 to early 2025) and analysis of member submissions to the WTO, this report maps key actors’ positions on anchoring these trade- related issues more firmly in the global trade regime. We find that key members do not agree on which – if any – of these trade-related agendas should be prioritised. As a result, enhancing the WTO’s effectiveness and relevance by expanding its scope appears viable only by means of non- binding and informal outputs – such as information sharing, best practices, or voluntary guidelines – and not through formal rule making. While many members view these trade-related agendas as supporting the WTO’s relevance, recent criticism of the Secretariat’s role – led by the United States – highlights emerging challenges to the organisation’s robustness, which are linked, but not reducible, to such trade-related issues.