The global trading system is dead. That, at least, is the blunt verdict of Michael Froman, former U.S. trade representative and now president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Writing recently in Foreign Affairs, he declared that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ceased to function. It no longer negotiates, monitors or enforces. Even its foundational principle of equal treatment — the “most favored nation” clause — has crumbled.

But who is to blame? In Washington, the finger points squarely at Beijing. American officials argue that China’s subsidies, sprawling state-owned enterprises and industrial overcapacity flooded world markets and broke the system. Yet this story is too simple, and dangerously misleading.

The United States itself bears responsibility. For decades, Washing

See Full Page