The multilateral trading system is being challenged as never before. The United States in 2025 has posed the newest and most formidable challenge. This is not the only test for the trading system, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) which administers it, but it is currently perhaps the most prominent challenge and was, for the most part, unforeseen prior to 2025.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking at Davos at the World Economic Forum in January 2026 (World Economic Forum 2026), famously stated that the middle powers have agency. He said that countries like Canada have "the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values"—citing values like human rights, sustainable development, and sovereignty as foundations. This paper seeks to analyze where global trade policies stand, to identify the most pressing needs of the world trading system, and suggest the role that middle powers, including Korea, can play.
