Companies have forgotten how much the global trade regime matters to daily firm operations.  If it did, in fact, collapse, the result would be a disaster.  The global trade rules are like air.  They have existed for so long that companies and consumers take them for granted.  They don’t even notice them any longer.  But, like air, if it suddenly went away, firms and consumers would discover to their great dismay that they actually like and need air (or the global trade system) very, very much. Why do firms need the WTO?  Start with the obvious issues.  Right now, 164 countries are constrained in what they can do with tariffs rates.  Up until this past year, WTO members did not just randomly hike tariffs overnight.  Keeping tariffs consistent has allowed firms and customers to have stability and reduce risk.