Final Remarks

Broad-based cooperation on subsidies is needed to bring greater transparency, openness, and predictability to global trade. Subsidies appear to be widespread, growing, and often poorly targeted at their intended policy objectives. Beyond raising economic efficiency concerns, this situation is spurring the use of unilateral trade defense measures, eroding public support for open trade, and contributing to severe trade tensions that impede progress on other global trade priorities. Governments should work expeditiously to clarify and strengthen international disciplines around subsidies while recognizing the important roles that well-designed subsidies can play in some circumstances. To complement and support this work, more effort is needed to draw up an agenda to improve our understanding of current subsidy programs and their implications for trading partners and the global commons. This paper aims to begin a discussion within the international community on how to develop and implement such an agenda.