The WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference has started. Further restrictions on domestic policy, measures that open the door further for corporations to have a say in national policy-making, and a watered-down agreement on Covid Vaccines that does practically nothing to help end the pandemic. Big Tech’s favourite items – free data flows and freedom from localization requirements – figure on the WTO agenda. If agreed, they would keep the tech giants unaccountable for their surveillance model and the damage they inflict on workers, societies, and democracy.

The WTO rules are at the centre of the world order. They are responsible for this economic model that consumes the planet and subsumes societies to corporate interests. The current WTO rules impede the implementation of a New Social Contract for recovery and resilience: a just transition to zero-carbon, labour and social protection, equality and inclusion. The WTO Reform should focus on inclusion: put workers’ interests first, bring corporate power under democratic control, and deliver on the development mandate agreed upon in Doha.