Reflections on UNGA81 and a Changing International Economic Order

“The United Nations exists because power requires rules – and humanity needs a place where power answers to principle.”

These are powerful words from the opening address by outgoing United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, at the recently concluded General Debate of the 81^st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81) in New York, United States (US). It took place at a particularly consequential moment for the global international order. Conflicts, wars, rising ethnonationalism and geopolitical tensions continue to reshape international diplomatic and commercial relations and global supply chains. Climate change is intensifying after the hottest August on record, and the Super El Niño is only getting started. Artificial intelligence is transforming economies and societies in both positive and negative ways. Debt burdens continue to constrain many countries’ development, while questions about the effectiveness and legitimacy of many international institutions in the face of flagrant violations of international law by the powerful are becoming deafening.

It is therefore fitting that the theme of this UNGA session was “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.” Indeed, in closing the General Debate, UNGA President H.E. Dr. Khalilur Rahman observed that speakers repeatedly referred to a crisis of institutional trust and to the need for multilateralism to produce tangible results and not simply more declarations.

What struck me was how closely the conversations in New York mirrored those which occurred in Geneva about the future of the global trading system, one of the pillars of the post-World War II global order.  The release of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) World Trade Report 2026 at its Annual Public Forum earlier this month raised uncomfortable questions about the status quo, threats posed by current developments and the heightened exigency for WTO reform. At their core, both multilateral discussions are about trust. This includes trust in institutions, trust in rules and, perhaps, most importantly for small states, trust that international rules would be followed and that international cooperation can provide some measure of predictability in a world of asymmetric power distributions.

The Bahamas’ Prime Minister Philip Davis captured the danger facing small states particularly well in his UNGA address in which he poignantly warned: “Rules are giving way to deals, and the benefits of the deals go to whoever [sic] holds the most leverage.” This observation could be easily applied to the global trading system where disagreements are increasingly met with threats and the imposition of tariffs by the world’s most powerful nation. While 72% of global merchandise trade still takes place on WTO most favoured nation terms according to the World Trade Report 2026, these developments threaten non-discrimination, one of the principles which undergird the rules-based multilateral system.

While multilateral rules do not eliminate power asymmetries, they place some boundaries around them. Predictability, non-discrimination, transparency and binding commitments provide traders from smaller economies a degree of protection from the unrestrained exercise of economic power that a purely transactional and power-based international system cannot and will not contain. This is why trade fragmentation and a breakdown in a rules-based system are worrying developments for small States. At the national and regional levels, Caribbean governments have been expanding commercial relations with both traditional and non-traditional partners. However, our small domestic markets and heavy dependence on international trade make it almost impossible to insulate ourselves from shocks such as higher shipping costs, rising commodity prices, disrupted supply chains and heightened investment uncertainty. These pressures ultimately filter down to households through higher prices at the supermarket and the gas pump, with the burden falling disproportionately on the poor and other marginalised groups within our societies.

At the same time, defending multilateralism does not mean defending the status quo. This was another key message coming from the UNGA81. In their speeches, Caribbean leaders repeatedly coupled their staunch defence of multilateralism with equally powerful demands for reform. Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador Walton Webson asked: “Can multilateralism still protect the weak as well as the strong?” For small states, he argued, this is not merely philosophical but is a question of survival.

The same should be asked of the global trading system. Rules governing twenty-first century trade must continue to evolve to address digital commerce, artificial intelligence and trade-related sustainability measures. But who writes these rules matters. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados made this point regarding artificial intelligence at the UNGA81 when she stated: “A technology that will affect every state must be governed by rules that every state has had the opportunity to shape”. In too many areas of global governance, the rules have been shaped by the powerful with limited, if any, meaningful input from smaller countries which must spend scarce resources implementing these rules under pain of reputational harm and material consequences. Whether it is carbon border measures, environmental standards or digital trade disciplines, Caribbean countries can no longer afford to simply inherit rules negotiated elsewhere which do not take into consideration their development circumstances.

Indeed, this is why Caribbean countries, despite limited capacity, have, wherever possible, engaged in niche diplomacy and moral leadership, particularly in areas of greatest importance to their survival. In the WTO, Barbados is one of the coordinators of the WTO Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, while also currently co-coordinating the WTO’s Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise. Through the Bridgetown Initiative, Barbados has continued to advocate for reform of the international financial architecture. Antigua and Barbuda was the host of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which I attended in 2024. It produced the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, which governs the UN’s SIDS work for 10 years (2024-2034). Together with Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda also established the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law to seek climate justice. Guyana’s current Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, is one of the contenders for the UN’s Secretary General position and several CARICOM members took the opportunity during the UNGA81 to publicly support her candidacy.

These are but a few recent examples of Caribbean leadership in multilateral spaces, but there are many others. The global trading system is changing, and while our countries cannot determine that transformation by ourselves, neither are we merely standing on the sidelines watching it happen. We are helping to amplify issues on the international agenda and, in many ways, shaping the responses to hopefully ensure tangible outcomes for the world and for the Caribbean people.

While I too worry about this Twilight Zone in which we are living, I am always one to look for the positives. As Nelson Mandela wrote in one of his letters while imprisoned at Robben Island, “hope is a powerful weapon”. This period of disjuncture between the death of the old post-World War II era and the birth of a new one is scary,but also provides an opportunity for us in the Caribbean to strategise with each other and other willing partners to help shape the new world we want. In a new world order, I envision a world where a country like Cuba would not be facing an oppressive escalation in US aggression while the world sits idly by and where extrajudicial killings occur in the Caribbean Sea under the pretext of combatting narcotics trafficking. I envision a world where perpetrators of war crimes can no longeraddress the world’s “town hall” while committing atrocities against others.

I think Dr. Rahman put it best in his vision statement for this UNGA session: “By working together, we can build a more robust multilateral system that commands the trust of the Member States and delivers concrete benefits for all.” Learned Antiguan diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders once referred to small states as the moral compass in his reflections on Sir Shridath Ramphal’s legacy at a memorial lecture organised by the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations. In this new order, our small states can and must be the moral compass the world needs now to steer us towards a more equitable future.

Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is the Junior Research Fellow of The Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. Learn more about the SRC at www.shridathramphalcentre.com.