Title：A Study on the Path of Building the WTO Trade Rules under the Urgent Need of Tackling Plastic Pollution

Author：Xinyao Lyu

Abstract：In 2020, the WTO members, led by China, initiated an informal Dialogue on Plastic Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade through a joint statement initiative, drawing the WTO’s attention to the issue of plastic pollution. In moving forward in tandem with the discussion of an international plastics instrument at the United Nations Environment Assembly, the WTO plastics process has not received sufficient attention and has been slow to progress. Theplastic problem is rooted in the plastics economy. The complete lifecycle of plastic products and their unprecedented involvement in human society dictate that the solution to this pollution problem cannot be based solely on restrictive measures and national action plans at the environmental level. A viable way to limit plastic pollution is centered on the WTO trade rules and the multilateral trading system. With trade-related plastics measures as a tool, the WTO should play a greater role in pollution cessation and transition to a more circular plastics economy. To this end, by sorting out the existing plastics agenda and making reference to the goal-oriented, problem-oriented and result-oriented system design methodology for the forward-looking construction of the WTO plastics rules, the focus and obstacles of future discussions can be clarified. At the same time, as the initiator of the issue, China should contribute more actively to the promotion of the Plastic Pollution Dialogue, and contribute Chinese solutions to the economic and trade methods of solving plastic pollution.

Keywords：The WTO Trade Rules, Circular Plastics Economy, Trade of Plastic Substitutes and Alternatives, Chinese Contribution