Taking the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun in 2003 as a starting point, this chapter examines from a long-term historical perspective the political and legal foundations of the multilateral trade regime as it emerged in the immediate postwar period under the leadership of the United States. Against this backdrop, the radical novelty of the WTO, with its dual-level judicial dispute resolution mechanism, is highlighted as the most advanced organizational expression of the process/project of economic globalization. Based on the analysis of the political logic that governs the process of rule change in this organization, the chapter identifies some of the constitutive tensions of the multilateral trade regime centered on the WTO, tensions which, this is the final hypothesis of the study, are bound to lead to an increasing politicization of the organization’s negotiation processes.