When the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was concluded in the late 1940s, there was hardly any mention of international transactions in services. At that time, the issue of international trade in services was of minor importance. In addition, attention was initially focused on...

The final package of the seventh round of multilateral GATT negotiations has been ready for initialling since April 11, 1979. What has been achieved in these negotiations, commonly known as the Tokyo Round, and what has been left undone?

In the fifties and sixties GATT was a motive power for worldwide trade liberalization which caused exports and imports to increase constantly at a higher rate than the production of goods. If this positive trend is to last, the course must be laid now for progressive removal of the trade barriers.

For a global player like the EU, it must adequately respond to US unilateral actions and not give in to threats in order to preserve its credibility. However, it is not in its interest to let trade conflicts escalate and be drawn into trade wars. It is worth noting that through the bilateral...

The WTO provides extensive flexibility for members to engage with each other. Using this, WTO members should identify a road map for the future and a work programme to update and expand the rulebook to address trade-distorting nontariff policies that are not or only partially covered by current...

According to the European Commission (EC), the WTO is struggling to credibly remain the go-to place for trade negotiations.1 Indeed, after the Commission stated its concerns, EU-Ambassador to the WTO Marc Vanheukelen commented that if the organisation does not take measures to move forward, the...

The greatest challenge for the EU in trying to identify an optimal response is understanding the motives behind the US strategy. The rhetoric, and more recently also actions, of the current US administration on trade and the global multilateral system are a real threat to the process of...