In engen Grenzen: Kleine Volkswirtschaften, der Handelskrieg und COVID-19 (Charlotte Sieber-Gasser)

Global consensus on the benefits on multilateral trade rules is currently in question: among others, the "trade war", the limited functioning of the WTO dispute settlement procedure, and most recently the combat against COVID-19 contribute to a considerable amount of legal uncertainty in the global market. This poses challenges especially for small, Independent and export-oriented economies, like Switzerland or Liechtenstein. As it turns out, the existing WTO remedies, if at all, are for structural reasons only of limited use to small economies. Hence, it is evident that particularly in the absence of global consensus on the benefits of multilateral trade rules, a new approach to legal protection of trade interests of small economies is necessary. The article shows which measures before and after the emergence of the pandemic led to the current and perhaps even intensifying trade war and discusses possible options for the future protection of the trade interests of small economies in a global market that is divided into several large economic blocks.