Multilateral trade negotiations within the World Trade Organization are largely dormant as the contentiousness of the issues being considered and the domestic political pressures on the negotiators have made meaningful progress impossible. The stagnation at the multilateral level has caused the major trading countries to shift their attention to alternatives to the multilateral forum, most notably bilateral and regional free trade agreements. The global political economy also is evolving in ways that are having significant effects on international trade. So, while the WTO may be relatively quiet, international trade practices are undergoing profound changes. Some of these changes will have implications for Taiwan and for young lawyers entering the practice of international business, which is why the principal purpose of this essay is to consider how ten of the major trends in international trade practices may affect the Taiwanese economy and Taiwan’s international business lawyers. The paper concludes with suggestions on how to use the current international trade trends to diffuse China’s efforts to push Taiwan into further diplomatic and economic isolation.