Economic research and trade policy analysis

The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) established the first multilateral understanding of what constitutes a standard for ‘adequate’ and ‘effective’ protection of intellectual property rights, and established a new mechanism for monitoring and reviewing how these standards are met. The policy and legal framework defined by the TRIPS Agreement has, in the two decades since it entered into force, progressi Read More

The World Trade Report 2009 focuses primarily on certain contingency measures available to WTO members in the import and export of goods. The legal framework for such measures is much less developed in services trade, although this is also discussed.

The question in this theme chapter is: what is the impact of services policy reform on the welfare of poor households? As explained below, there is a variety of channels through which services can be provided, and it is important to consider the whole portfolio of options in order to identify the ways in which poor households might be affected. Hoekman (2006) reviews the nature of services trade liberalisation and its scope to generate welfare gains.

In China, the term “small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” refers to “different forms of enterprises under different ownerships that are established within the territory of the People’s Republic of China that meet the social needs and create more job opportunities, and comply with the industrial policies of the State”. This definition is rather more complex than that in other countries, where the definition of SMEs tends to be based purely on their size. Read More

Les gros titres annonçant que la chaîne de blocs peut révolutionner différents domaines du commerce international, du financement du commerce aux procédures douanières, en passant par la propriété intellectuelle, sont légion. Le caractère transparent, décentralisé et immuable de la chaîne de blocs a éveillé l’intérêt des acteurs privés – et des gouvernements – qui veulent explorer le potentiel de cette technologie afin d’améliorer l’efficacité des Read More

Les services sont souvent largement négligés dans les discussions sur le commerce mondial ; pourtant, ils représentent la majeure partie des échanges dans de nombreuses économies développées et progressent rapidement dans bon nombre de pays en développement également. Cela s’explique peutêtre par le fait que les services sont moins tangibles et que les questions sur le commerce des services sont souvent plus complexes. Le présent rapport vise Read More

La valeur en dollars du commerce mondial des marchandises a diminué de 23 pour cent en 2009, pour s’établir à 12 100 milliards de dollars EU, contre 16 100 milliards en 2008 (voir le tableau 1 de l’Appendice). Cette baisse a été due en partie à la diminution du volume des échanges, le reste s’expliquant principalement par la baisse des prix des produits de base, en particulier le pétrole, en 2009. Après avoir atteint des niveaux record en 2008, les p Read More

This is an accessible guide to the vocabulary used in trade negotiations. It explains about 2,500 terms and concepts in simple language. Its main emphasis is on the multilateral trading system represented by the agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition it covers many of the trade-related activities, outcomes and terms used in other international organizations, such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCT Read More

This chapter is structured around three questions. What advances have been made on services market opening? what have been the specific market access commitments of least-developed countries (LDCs)? And what is the progress made with domestic regulation disciplines? This chapter examines the extent to which the services-specific commitments and domestic regulatory disciplines of Article XII members differ from those undertaken by original WTO Read More

The health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the vulnerabilities and the strengths of the interconnected global economy, which has at its core the multilateral trading system. This report has examined the resilience of the global economy to crises, how trade plays a pivotal role in developing resilience, and in what ways the global trade system can be improved to allow countries to prepare for, cope with and re Read More

Trade and production networks are not new. Firms have been producing items with components sourced from around the globe for centuries. Businesses have continuously sought out new markets for their products. What have changed, however, are the speed, scale, depth and breadth of global interactions. Increasingly, new players have become active in what have come to be called global value chains or global supply chains. This process of organiza Read More

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is the world’s first general multilateral trade agreement. It was signed in 1947 and came into force on 1 January 1948. As the contracting parties began to implement what is more widely known as the GATT 1947, it is unlikely they would have foreseen the full magnitude of the political and economic importance of their accord and its enduring impact as a fundamental framework for multilateral trade right up to th Read More

Les accords commerciaux définissent les règles régissant la conduite de la politique commerciale. Ces règles doivent établir un équilibre entre les engagements et la flexibilité. Un excès de flexibilité peut affaiblir la valeur des engagements, mais un manque de flexibilité peut rendre les règles politiquement inapplicables. Cette tension entre des engagements crédibles et une flexibilité n’est jamais loin de la surface dans les négociations c Read More

Les femmes ont tout à gagner du développement du commerce, mais elles sont confrontées à des obstacles qui empêchent ou entravent leur accès aux nouvelles possibilités. Ces contraintes contribuent à expliquer pourquoi les femmes travaillent dans certains secteurs, détiennent et dirigent certains types d’entreprises, consomment certains types de marchandises ou prennent certaines décisions dans leurs foyers – comme expliqué en détail dans le Read More

This Report has ranged widely. The Executive Summary attached to the beginning of the Report outlines the main areas covered and observations made. A report of this nature is itself a summary of complex issues and has to rely heavily on the more detailed and analytical work of others. References have been made in the text to this work. Many of the issues addressed here are “moving targets”, particularly where governments are constantly exercising Read More

Depuis sa création, le système commercial international a été modelé conformément à des principes conjugués au pragmatisme. Les relations commerciales ne peuvent pas être déterminées seulement sur la base de principes simples et inviolés définis et convenus d’entrée de jeu. Des considérations pratiques, des questions politiques et les expressions particulières de l’intérêt national contribuent inévitablement à déterminer les positions prises par les go Read More

Cette section donne un aperçu général du rôle du commerce des ressources naturelles dans l’économie mondiale. Elle commence par un examen des définitions et de la terminologie, en mettant l’accent sur les principales caractéristiques qui distinguent les ressources naturelles des autres types de marchandises faisant l’objet d’échanges. Ces caractéristiques sont notamment le caractère épuisable des ressources naturelles, leur répartition g Read More

En la primera sección del Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial, 2004, se examinan la evolución reciente de la estructura, el valor y el volumen del comercio internacional de bienes y servicios, y las perspectivas del comercio para 2004. Se analizan también las preferencias no recíprocas, el movimiento internacional de personas proveedoras de servicios, y las indicaciones geográficas. En la segunda sección se examina el tema de la coherencia de Read More

WTO members are frequently referred to as “countries”, although some members are not countries in the usual sense of the word but are officially “customs territories”. The definition of geographical and other groupings in this report does not imply an expression of opinion by the WTO Secretariat concerning the status of any country or territory, the delimitation of its frontiers, nor the rights and obligations of any WTO member in respect of WTO agreemen Read More