Abstract
This study critically investigates the legal trajectory of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
in the context of escalating trade conflicts and the proliferation of regional trade agreements.
Anchored in a qualitative research design and informed by the Critical Legal Studies
framework, the analysis interrogates the progressive erosion of the WTO’s legal authority in
upholding multilateral trade norms. It highlights an emerging pattern of strategic legal noncompliance, particularly by major economic powers such as the United States, which has
significantly weakened the efficacy of the WTO’s dispute settlement system. Furthermore, the
ascendance of legally robust regional frameworks—exemplified by the African Continental
Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—has begun to reconfigure the normative hierarchy of international
trade governance, increasingly marginalizing the WTO. This paper contends that the WTO’s
declining juridical relevance constitutes a structural challenge to the coherence and legitimacy
of the international trade legal order. In response, it advocates for comprehensive legal and
institutional reforms, notably the restoration of the Appellate Body and the enhancement of
enforcement mechanisms, as essential measures to reestablish the WTO’s central role in global
trade adjudication and to safeguard the uniform application of international trade law.