The International Policy Debate

Discussions on new and improved rules to discipline subsidies are important to addressing trade tensions and building a stronger multilateral trading system. Current debates are occurring at different speeds, with varying membership and differences in ambition and urgency. These include subsidies to fisheries, agriculture, and industry, with a specific focus on certain areas such as subsidy notification requirements at the WTO, SOEs, or export credit practices and competition policy instruments developed by the OECD. Sectoral discussions, e.g., on fossil-fuel subsidies or steel, also take place in other inter-governmental fora, notably the G7 and G20.