Trade Multilateralism and National Security: Antinomies in the History of the International Trade Organization

Putting to Work the Uncanny: Historical Argument in International Economic Law

“…52 Because the 'reports' (not judgments or awards) of WTO 'panels' (not a court or tribunal) must be adopted by members, albeit by negative consensus whereby all members must block adoption, WTO law has been marked by considerable restraint in the types of legal arguments that are treated as persuasive. 53 That said, Mona Pinchis-Paulsen suggests that the 'historicization' of the GATT security exception was 'crucial' to a WTO panel report concerning measures imposed by Russia upon Ukraine in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea, 54 wherein the panel held that its 'textual and contextual interpretation' was 'confirmed by the negotiating history'. 55 But the fact that Pinchis-Paulsen's archival insights on the drafting of the security exception serve to 'offer perspective to current debates, not to make a formal interpretative claim about the GATT,' 56 underlines how historical argument has relatively limited currency in WTO dispute settlement.…”