ECONOMIC HITMEN

This study examines the topic “Economic Hitmen and International Trade Law: Using Trade and Debt Instruments to Entrench Poverty in Developing ations.” It explores how powerful states, multinational corporations, and international financial institutions subtly influence and control developing economies rough unequal trade agreements, conditional loans, and debt- based interventions. The work argues that these instruments—often presented as development assistance—frequently function as tools of economic coercion that limit national sovereignty and deepen structural poverty. The aim of the research is to analyse how trade and debt mechanisms are used to create dependency, identify the legal gaps within international trade law that enable such practices, and valuate the role of institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO in shaping economic outcomes in vulnerable nations. Using a doctrinal research method, the study relies on treaties, statutes, case law, institutional reports, and scholarly literature to examine the legal and economic frameworks that sustain obal inequality. The findings reveal that many developing nations remain trapped in cycles of poverty not because of natural economic weaknesses, but due to deliberately structured global systems that favour creditor nations. Trade rules, loan conditions, and debt repayment structures often force developing states into policies that undermine development. The study recommends stronger ransparency in loan negotiations, regional debt- management strategies, fairer trade rules, and legal reforms within global financial institutions to protect weaker economies. The work contributes to knowledge by linking the economic-hitman framework directly with international trade aw and demonstrating how legal instruments, rather than open force, are used to entrench dependency and underdevelopment.