Yes. WTO reform will progress this year, but its extent is hard to foresee.

Everyone is starting to think seriously about whether, without the WTO appellate body, the global trade order will revert to the law of the jungle if disputants are not bound to multilateral or bilateral trade agreements after the US again declined in last year's second half to initiate a new member selection process for the appellate body of the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.

The EU, which sees multilateralism as the foundation of the international order, will push for WTO reform, and also rally its forces for a hard fight with the US, while Japan will keep a tight grip on its right to communicate directly with US government officials at all levels as the host of this year's G20 summit, but it is not adept at challenging US views in the course of such communications.