On 19 February 2014, from 10:00 to 12:00 the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the University of Pretoria’s Politics Department will be hosting a workshop on The Trade and Misaligned Currencies: Towards A World Trade Organisation (WTO) Solution for Predatory Government Interventions? By way of background, the international management of currency misalignments dates back to the days of the pre-World War Two gold standard. Then major currencies were fixed, and, at least post World War Two, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) acted as a ‘referee’ to policy systematic under-valuations designed to secure competitive advantage in international trade. Since the early 1970s, after the collapse of the Bretton Woods System of fixed exchange rates, major currencies have floated and efforts to coordinate amongst the foremost powers defaulted to the relatively cosy G7 club of advanced democracies. That world is long behind us. Now we confront a world of massive quantitative easing in advanced countries, and deliberate currency undervaluation in significant emerging markets, particularly in Asia and notably by the People’s Republic of China. The G20 has proved incapable of coordinating amongst a now diverse group of major powers, and the IMF has lost its central role. Yet the effects of currency movements, whether they constitute ‘manipulation’ or not, on international trade remain important and a constant source of international tension. Consequently these issues were recently introduced into the WTO by the Brazilian government in particular, albeit with muted results to date. Can a multilateral solution be forged? And what is the role of the WTO?