The strength of the WTO is key to achieve economic growth and reduce poverty globally.

More broadly, to ensure that international commerce plays its role in tackling humanity’s existential challenges, the status and clout of the WTO must rise. International commerce will be one of the economic mainstays in the fight against climate change and extreme poverty, and the global effort to reduce inequality via the creation of export-linked jobs in developing and emerging economies. The WTO rising imperative is about increasing the likelihood that international commerce remains as rules based as possible while supporting sustainable, inclusive, and equitable growth. Above all, a mindset change is needed. Leaders must recognise that the WTO is not just about commercial calculations best left to diplomats and trade ministers. It is about coming together to find ways of countering the challenges that endanger humanity. It is about saving millions of lives. It is about countering developments that threaten to lock billions into perpetual poverty. It is a place that requires head-of-state attention and the status to match. We are arguing that G20 leaders need to perceive trade as part of the solution to humanity’s existential challenges, and ‘WTO rising’ as an imperative.