Economic research and trade policy analysis

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has exposed the upsides and downsides of international trade in medical goods and services. Open trade can increase access to medical services and goods—and the critical inputs needed to manufacture them—improve quality and variety and reduce costs. However excessive concentration of production restrictive trade policies supply chain disruptions and regulatory divergence can jeopardize the ability of public health systems to respond to pandemics and other health crises. Trade Therapy: Deepening Cooperation to Strengthen Pandemic Defenses coordinated by Nadia Rocha and Michele Ruta at the World Bank and Marc Bacchetta and Joscelyn Magdeleine at the World Trade Organization provides new data on trade in medical goods and services and medical value chains surveys the evolving policy landscape before and during the pandemic and proposes an action plan to improve trade policies and deepen international cooperation to deal with future pandemics. As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers the focus of policy action is on the response which includes actions aimed at removing bottlenecks and providing government support to promote equitable access to vaccines. As the emergency subsides the focus should shift to prevention and preparedness. Steps to close information gaps—building on the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19 the ACT-Accelerator and the open markets for example—by negotiating tariff reductions on medical goods and greater market access in services should take priority. Also important are measures to improve the efficiency of markets which include harmonizing regulation through mutual recognition or equivalence of standards and creating international standards for essential medical goods inputs and production processes. Agreement on a crisis rulebook to be deployed during an emergency—including clear and agreed limits on export policy flexibility and shared rules on intellectual property flexibilities—would provide a more solid policy foundation to address future challenges.

Climate change is having a profound impact on people’s lives across the world. Mitigating and adapting to climate change will require major economic investment and coordinated action to transition to a sustainable low-carbon economy. The World Trade Report 2022 explores the complex interlinkages between climate change international trade and climate and trade policies. Although international trade generates greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate-related natural disasters it can also play an essential role in helping countries reduce emissions by increasing the availability and affordability of environmental goods services and technologies. International trade can also play a key role in helping countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and build future resilience. The World Trade Report 2022 shows how international trade and trade rules can contribute to addressing climate change. Ensuring trade and climate change policies are mutually supportive requires global coordination and transparency about government measures. The WTO already plays an important role in helping countries tackle climate change by maintaining a predictable trading environment underpinned by WTO rules that allow for international trade in critical goods and services needed to cope with the consequences of climate change and to reduce emissions. Further international cooperation at the WTO could strengthen the mutual supportiveness of trade and climate change policies so that the world is better equipped to transition to a low-carbon economy.

In December 2022 the Gender Research Hub organized alongside the WTO the World Trade Congress on Gender – the first international research conference to focus on trade and gender. This high-level event brought together eminent trade and gender experts to present the latest research in the field. It also provided a platform for researchers and policymakers to exchange views and build partnerships to promote further innovative research. This publication builds on many of the research papers presented by trade and gender researchers at the Congress. The research presented at the Congress and in this publication reaffirms key gender principles and provides evidence that women face higher barriers than men when seeking to access opportunities created by trade. It also shows that trade policy can help women overcome obstacles. In addition the research reaffirms the importance of making trade inclusive and demonstrates that making trade policies more responsive to gender issues improves gender equality in trade supports poverty reduction and fosters sustainable growth.

The WTO’s “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” analyses recent global trade developments through the second quarter of 2023 and presents the organization’s updated forecasts for merchandise trade volume in 2023 and 2024. Developments in merchandise and commercial services trade in value terms are also shown with breakdowns by sector and region. The report is timed to coincide with the release of the WTO’s latest quarterly and annual trade statistics which can be downloaded from the WTO’s online database at stats.wto.org.

This publication provides handy one-page summaries of the key findings of every dispute panel report issued up to the end of 2022 and the relevant Appellate Body reports issued over this period. Each one-page summary comprises the core facts the key findings contained in the reports and any other matters of particular significance. Two indexes list the disputes by WTO agreement and by WTO member responding to the complaint.

Au cours des dernières décennies le secteur des services a été la principale source de croissance économique. Si la logistique la finance et les technologies de l'information jouent un rôle essentiel dans le fonctionnement des économies modernes les services fournis aux entreprises les soins de santé et les loisirs figurent parmi les secteurs dont la croissance est la plus forte au monde. Cette publication – publiée conjointement par la Banque mondiale et l'OMC – met en avant la contribution que le commerce et l'investissement dans le secteur des services peuvent apporter à la croissance et au développement économiques. Elle souligne en particulier qu'il est important de redynamiser la coopération internationale dans le commerce des services et invite à réfléchir sur la manière de mobiliser au mieux l'aide pour les économies en développement et les économies les moins avancées dans la mise en œuvre des réformes du secteur des services afin que celles-ci puissent tirer parti de l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur.

World Tariff Profiles 2023 provides comprehensive information on the tariffs and non-tariff measures imposed by over 170 countries and customs territories. The publication starts with a breakdown of the tariffs imposed by these economies. Tariff data are presented in comparative tables and in one-page profiles for each economy. A summary table on selected indicators on the imports and exports profile for these economies is also presented. Statistics on non tariff measures by country and by product group complement the data on tariffs. Under the special topics part there are two technical papers. The first one analyses the evolution of market access over 16 years of World Tariff Profiles and the second one focuses on Product classification for WTO trade statistics and policy analysis - Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTN) Categories. The publication is jointly prepared by the World Trade Organization the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action a publication by the WTO Secretariat looks into the trade policies that governments could consider as part of their strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The publication covers ten policy areas where governments have introduced measures to support the transition to a low-carbon economy improve the flow of climate-friendly goods and services decarbonize supply chains and build resilience to extreme weather events and climate change. Launched at COP28 the publication is intended to shed light on how trade policy actions for climate could accelerate the transition to a climate-friendly global economy as part of the WTO Secretariat’s efforts to encourage the full use of the power of trade to deliver on collective sustainable development objectives including those in relation to the climate crisis.

Cambodia the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam – the so-called Mekong-3 - have experienced rapid trade growth over the last ten years. However growth could be boosted even further by improving access to trade finance such as loans and guarantees for locally owned businesses seeking to trade globally. This publication presents the results of two surveys undertaken by the IFC to determine the level of trade finance available to businesses in the Mekong region. An analysis of the data conducted by the WTO explores the potential impact of an expansion in trade finance and how this could lead to greater integration into world trade and more inclusiveness with increased participation in global supply chains by small businesses and women-owned enterprises. The publication is intended to serve as a guide to how domestic financial sectors can reorient their operations to support cross-border trade and enhanced access to global markets.

El establecimiento del sistema multilateral de comercio hace más de siete decenios se basó en el entendimiento de que la interdependencia y la cooperación contribuyen a la paz y a la prosperidad compartida. Sin embargo más recientemente los nuevos desafíos como las tensiones geopolíticas el aumento de las desigualdades y el cambio climático han suscitado temores de que la globalización expone a los países a riesgos excesivos. Estos temores han aumentado las presiones para romper las relaciones comerciales y recurrir a políticas unilaterales a través de un proceso de fragmentación. En el Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial de este año se examinan los beneficios de la integración en el comercio mundial así como los riesgos de fragmentación. En él se indica que el comercio ha demostrado ser una fuente de seguridad y paz un motor de reducción de la pobreza y un instrumento fundamental para hacer frente al cambio climático. En el informe se afirma que para que nuestras economías sean más seguras inclusivas y sostenibles la reglobalización —o bien la integración de más personas economías y cuestiones apremiantes en el comercio mundial y el fortalecimiento de la cooperación multilateral— es una solución mucho más eficaz a los desafíos mundiales que la fragmentación. Los problemas mundiales exigen soluciones mundiales lo que significa que el mundo actual necesita más cooperación no menos. Un sistema multilateral de comercio revitalizado supervisado por la OMC tiene una importante función que desempeñar en este proceso.