Despite the promise of a well-ordered trading system and expansion of trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s, why is trade governance deadlocked? This puzzle is addressed by elaborating the meaning of “crisis of success” and what such a crisis looks like at the global trading order. I argue that the global trading system is revealing a “crisis of success” in that its current failure to ensure functional trade liberalization change is a result of the initial accomplishment in successfully undergoing a power shift in global trade governance especially at the WTO, marked by greater inclusion of new emerging powers. The success of the initial first phase of trade governance (1990s–2008/2012), especially in aiding an institutional power shift at the global level, created conditions for new problems, leading to a fragmented turn toward preferential trade agreements as well as trade-mediated conflictual strategies rather than sustainable peaceful change. The chapter’s dynamic historical argument delineates how early successes in global trade policies and governance led to maximalist peaceful change, followed by crisis leading to greater use of tariffs and ensuing US–China economic and trade competition. The mechanisms that underwrote the paradox of crisis despite institutional strength are elaborated.

Since 2008, G20 leaders have repeatedly committed themselves to conclude WTO negotiations expeditiously and refrain from resorting to protectionism. They have not, however, lived up to these commitments. Trade growth has been anaemic for much of the intervening period, with deadlock in the WTO and reversion to aggressive unilateralism by the United States undermining global trade governance. Current trade tensions primarily involve the major trading powers. Resolving these tensions requires agreement between the main actors and greater focus on addressing the concerns of all WTO members regarding the operation of the organization. The major actors are all members of the G20. The G20 constitutes an important forum for the EU to provide leadership and to use its soft power to address geo-economic conflicts and bolster global trade governance. The chapter reviews the prospects for resolving current trade tensions and revitalizing the multilateral system through a discussion of the measures that could constitute EU trade leadership in the G20.

The chapter builds on the author’s article titled ‘Gender-Inclusive Governance for E-Commerce’, which broke new ground by examining electronic commerce (e-commerce) from a gender perspective, and the proposal for a provision on gender equality in services domestic regulation (services DR). Since then, both the provision and the policy landscape have developed. The provision was included in the negotiations on services DR that concluded on 2 December 2021 among the sixty-seven World Trade Organization (WTO) members participating in the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on Services Domestic Regulation. The chapter aims to meet the moment with a restatement of the framework that the article proposed, using original and new analysis by including the concluded text. The chapter generates new knowledge that is actionable for policymakers and stakeholders by responding to three questions: What is gender-inclusive governance? What is the relationship between gender divides, e-commerce, digital trade, and trade in services? What policy interventions are necessary, and why, to meet the moment? The goal is to discuss ways to attain gender-inclusive governance for trade policy at this unique time for implementing changes that are fit for the digital age. The chapter argues that multi-level dedicated gender-inclusive governance can contribute to closing the gender gap.

In this chapter, in broad strokes, we look at the governance of the trading system since its inception – across the GATT and WTO periods – and understand the headwinds that must be overcome to achieve needed systemic reforms.