WTO Public Forum 2026: The Trading System at a “Critical Juncture”

Once again, the WTO opened its doors for its annual Public Forum and invited trade community members from all over the world to Geneva from 15-17 September. This year's discussions – under the general theme of "Powering the Future," – placed services at the centre of the conversation, examining their potential role as an engine for development, a source of income, and a driver of job creation worldwide. The theme is timely, since services roughly account for more than two-thirds of global GDP today and employ more people than any other sector. Beyond these discussions, it was only natural that participants also turned to the bigger questions surrounding the future of the multilateral trading system, which continues to face significant challenges.

The multilateral trading system under threat

These challenges were also addressed in this year's WTO World Trade Report titled "A Critical Juncture for the World Trading System," which frames a world of rising geopolitical tension as a decisive moment for the organisation and the multilateral trading system more broadly. According to the report, there are three possible future scenarios: a strengthened multilateral trading system, a more fragmented world split into competing geopolitical blocs, and a scenario of an even more fractional world in which global trade cooperation breaks down and is replaced with free trade areas. The latter two scenarios would not only weaken the institution itself, but would also translate into fewer jobs and higher living costs, with developing economies standing to lose the most.

The current state of global trade was also acknowledged by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during the Public Forum kick-off on 15 September: “The global trade rules are under challenge, global trade is experiencing problems such as it has never seen." However, on a more optimistic note, she also acknowledged the institution's track record, pointing for example to the roughly 72 per cent of global trade still conducted under WTO most-favoured-nation terms (MFN). This remains relevant, since all “economies are better off cooperating,” as more interdependence between trading partners can potentially foster peace as well.

FES Geneva at the Public Forum

As the Public Forum is one of the few moments the WTO opens its doors to civil society and the broader public, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Geneva Office invited journalists from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Nigeria and Thailand as part of a dedicated media programme co-organised with the WTO. Participants attended tailored press and background briefings, offering them detailed insights into the institution's machinery and the global trade mechanisms. Through the work of well-informed journalists, concepts can be translated into their respective national contexts, bringing otherwise abstract discussions closer to people’s everyday lives. This once again showed how essential informed journalism is at a time when growing concerns about the state of the multilateral system call for exactly this kind of translation.