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China foregoes special and differential treatment at the WTO: real game-changer or geopolitical symbolism?

Brandi, Clara / Axel Berger
External Publications (2025)

published as Sustainable Futures Blog, 29 September 2025

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China’s renunciation of SDT is mostly symbolic in legal terms but consequential politically. It underscores Beijing’s intent to shape the global trade agenda on its terms ahead of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in March 2026, to reduce a frequent grievance against it and to court developing countries with new offers of cooperation. For Brussels, the appropriate response is not to reflexively applaud the move, but to engage. The WTO can truly use a credible, ambitious and balanced reform agenda. Whether China’s step helps unlock it depends less on renouncing SDT than on whether other members seize the window of opportunity to move towards this objective.

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