China and the WTO

Examining the twenty years since China acceded to the World Trade Organization, this collection provides an original, systematic assessment of the opportunities and challenges that China has presented to the WTO. Offering in-depth analyses of the “two-way” relationship between China and the WTO, the contributions explore a range of key issues from the varied effects of WTO membership for China and the global economy to the responses of the WTO members to China’s rapid economic growth. It presents diverse perspectives of leading scholars from multiple disciplines, including law, economics, political science, and international relations, as well as practical insights from senior policymakers from both China and the United States. This is an invaluable contribution to ongoing debates about the implications of the rise of China for global economic governance and enriches discussions of the wide-ranging implications of China’s growing integration into the multilateral trading system, both now and in the future. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Henry Gao is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and a Professor of Law at Singapore Management University. He sits on the Advisory Board of the WTO Chairs Program and the editorial boards of the Journal of International Economic Law and Journal of Financial Regulation. He has also published Between Market Economy and State Capitalism: China’s State-Owned Enterprises and the World Trading System (2022).

Damian Raess is a Senior Researcher at the University of Bern specializing in International Political Economy. He has written extensively on globalization and labor, including China-led globalization. Coauthor of the Labor Provisions in Trade Agreements (LABPTA) dataset, he has provided consultant services for analyzing labor provisions in preferential trade agreements for the EFTA, the EU Parliament, and the World Bank.

Ka Zeng is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Director of International and Global Studies at the University of Arkansas. Her research focuses on China’s role in the global economy. She is the author or coauthor of Trade Threats, Trade Wars (2004), Greening China (2011), and Fragmenting Globalization (2021).