On 23 September 2026, the Rio School on Global Governance, Democracy and Human Rights was honored to welcome Dr. Bruno Barreto de Azevedo Teixeira, Partner at LDCM Advogados. The course is held by the FGV Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme and directed by Prof. Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida.

In his lecture, moderated by Prof. Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida, Dr. Barreto discussed the following main question: whether international trade law is still relevant in times of crisis. He held that the current geopolitical scenario has significantly affected international trade due to armed conflicts, sanctions and tariffs, so isolationalism and protectionism are once again a central part of the political agenda. He presented three main effects of conflict on trade: uncertainty, trade diversion, and inefficiency. In particular, a feature of the 21^st century is commercial interdependence becoming the weapon of the strong against the weak, representing the erosion of the liberal trade order.

Then, Dr. Barreto examined whether trade law is at a crossroads. He assessed investment law’s legitimacy crisis and private international law’s identity crisis. The lecture concluded with a reflection: international trade law is a political, not a natural construction. The way forward might involve restoring the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO, regulating sanctions in the multilateral level, revising foreign direct investment law, and developing international contract law as a system. The question is whether future generations will build a stronger legal architecture than the one currently in place.

We warmly thank Dr. Bruno Barreto for this timely and thought-provoking session. We look forward to further collaboration.