Since December 2019, the paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body has exposed a deeper structural problem in global trade governance. While tariffs continue to dominate political rhetoric, many of today’s most economically consequential trade restrictions operate through far less visible means. Non-tariff barriers (NTBs), including technical regulations, product standards, certification requirements and administrative procedures, often impose costs comparable to or exceeding those of tariffs, particularly in highly regulated sectors. Yet these measures remain poorly suited to resolution through existing dispute-settlement mechanisms. To these structural challenges, the evolving legal landscape adds a further layer of uncertainty: the legal instruments that governments rely upon to impose or threaten trade measures may themselves become subjects of active litigation, as the Supreme Court’s February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump demonstrated. Legal volatility of this kind is itself a trade friction — one that makes predictability harder to achieve through adjudication and makes early coordination through ADR mechanisms more valuable than ever. 

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