Sugar as commodity or health risk: The unmaking or remaking of international trade law?

The history of international trade law has been shaped historically by the trade in sugar: from its colonial heritage to early experiments in institutionalisation, the sugar trade was central to trade law’s development. More recently, attention has been drawn to the regulation or restriction of sugar and sugar-derived goods for public health purposes. Oftentimes the account presented is one where international trade law, particularly the law of the World Trade Organization, presents an insurmountable barrier to the introduction of public health measures related to obesogenic goods. However, this chapter presents an alternative account where WTO law has developed to accommodate the pursuit of public policy objectives and identifies sugar, in particular, as a possible catalyst for further reaching an accommodation in trade law between the pursuit of economic liberalisation and public health policies by governments.