U.S. FOREIGN TRADE POLICY AND MULTILATERALISM: BETWEEN WTO REFORM, RECIPROCAL TARIFFS, AND ARRANGEMENTS IN LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56238/revgeov16n5-317Keywords:
Selective Multilateralism, World Trade Organization, Security Exception, United States Trade Policy, International TradeAbstract
This article examines the reconfiguration of United States external socio-economic policy and its impacts on the governance of international trade, using the 2025 Brazil–United States trade dispute as a case study. It argues that the contemporary U.S. strategy reflects a pattern of selective multilateralism, characterized by functional engagement in specific multilateral agendas, the contestation of core institutional elements of the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly the appellate function of the dispute settlement system, and the expansion of plurilateral regulatory arrangements. The analysis draws on realism, Wilsonian idealism, and neoliberal institutionalism to interpret the use of tariffs as instruments of power, the role of multilateral rules, and the function of international regimes in reducing uncertainty.
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