Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) launches TRaNJA initiative to reshape WTO and global trade

Key facts

• Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) International launched the global initiative “Trade Not Just Aid: Winners and Losers in the WTO” (TRaNJA).
• The TRaNJA steering committee is co-chaired by Shashi Tharoor, MP and former foreign minister of India, and Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the WTO.
• The 21-member steering committee includes experts from all corners of the world.
• The launch event was organised by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and held in Tokyo, Japan, on 2-4 December, 2025, with nearly 30 experts from 16 countries participating.
• CUTS Secretary General Pradeep S. Mehta stated that around 70% of world trade still occurs on non-discriminatory MFN terms agreed at the WTO.
• Mehta highlighted that the predictability and stability provided by the WTO system has raised world trade volumes by over 45 times the level of trade in the 1950s.