Executive summary

The World Trade Report 2006 begins with a short summary of salient trends in international trade based on the Secretariat’s earlier Report issued in April. We also provide brief analytical commentaries on certain topical trade issues, which this year cover recent trends in trade in textiles and clothing, an examination of the evolution of international royalty and fee payments, developments in the trade of least-developed countries, and an analysis of the effects of natural disasters and acts of terrorism on international trade flows. The core topic for analysis in WTR 2006 is subsidies. The Report explores this area of policy in terms of how subsidies are defined, what economic theory can tell us about subsidies, why governments use subsidies, the most prominent sectors in which subsidies are applied, and the role of the WTO Agreement in regulating subsidies in the context of international trade.