This course, taught by an economist, a lawyer and a political scientist, focuses on the legal architecture of the WTO system and associated positive and normative questions about its design and wisdom. It starts with an overview of the economics and politics of international cooperation on trade, and an introduction to the WTO as an institution and its core obligations. The course then considers a series of selected topics, each from a legal, economic and political perspective. Such topics may include, among other things, the choice between regional and global approaches to trade cooperation; the interface between international trade obligations and domestic regulation of health, safety and the environment; the regulation of subsidies; the design and operation of the dispute settlement system; and special and differential treatment of developing countries. Students must have taken undergraduate microeconomics or secure approval of the instructor to waive this requirement.