Towards a new era of free trade litigation in the European context

Abstract: In recent years, between the European Union and the World Trade Organization has been a great challenge and a particular fervor for international litigation in the free trade sector. On the one hand, we have the American political position that put a veto block for the members of the appellate body, on the other, the EU which does not want to “support” international arbitrations in the sector anymore and the WTO which seeks new ways to continue its work in international economic law. These are topics in continuous investigation towards jurisprudential paths as well as new binding or non-binding acts within the scope of the Union to fill gaps and find new avenues to the litigation sector. China's participation in the Marrakesh agreements, since 2001 (Wu, 2016), was the beginning of the end of the international cooperation mechanism in the field of trade liberalization and above all of the general spirit of the rule of law, casting doubt on the fundamental respect of the principle of non-discrimination created by the GATT 1947. Reforming the WTO means a new governance of fair and distinct treatment in international trade through new agreements that take sustainable development models seriously while also asking for the support of civil society. The system of multilateralism also at the regional level should arrive at new rules of an international debate that involves citizens as subjects at a global level and as challenges to the law of the European Union.