Home▸Economics & Social Systems▸WTO Appellate Body Gridlock — Trade Dispute Backlog Simulator

WTO Appellate Body Gridlock — Trade Dispute Backlog Simulator

Interactive 3D queueing simulation of the WTO's paralyzed Appellate Body: seat or remove judges, watch panels form (or fail to), disputes pile into backlog, and 'appeals into the void' accumulate exactly as they have since 2019.

Economics & Social Systems3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

The World Trade Organization's Appellate Body — the top court for trade disputes among 164 member states — has sat idle since December 2019 because the United States has refused to confirm replacement judges, leaving it below the 3-judge quorum a panel needs to hear any case. This simulator turns that queueing problem into a live 3D courtroom: drag the seated-judges slider to reproduce history (0 seats today, 7 at full strength), set how fast new disputes are filed, and watch the amber pile of unresolved cases grow or drain in real time as panels do or don't form. A toggle lets you switch on the 2020 MPIA workaround, the interim arbitration arrangement that lets opted-in members route around the paralysis at a fraction of the old throughput, and live readouts track cumulative resolutions, backlog size, and the Little's-Law average wait time a filed dispute now faces.

⚙ Under the hood

An interactive 3D queueing simulation of the WTO's paralyzed Appellate Body: seat or remove judges below the 3-member quorum, set the dispute filing rate, and watch cases pile into backlog or drain as panels form.

economicstradewtoqueueing-theorygeopoliticssupply-chains

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install