"The WTO is going through an unprecedented crisis that has seriously eroded its relevance. The repeated invocations of national security against other members are evidence of a growing distrust. Industrial policy in the name of national security was unheard of when the WTO entered the realm of...

The adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 calls for concerted efforts by the international community to restrain the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C. Trade policy has the potential to contribute substantially to curbing climate change. However, the global...

Die Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) mit ihren Aufgaben, Handelshemmnisse abzubauen, den internationalen Handel zu liberalisieren und Handelskonfl ikte zu schlichten, ist stark angeschlagen. In der 25-jährigen Geschichte der Organisation kam es trotz Regelgleichheit zu unterschiedlich...

Strategies for developing countries in multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization / Nicolas Lamp -- Can international investment agreements be instruments of sustainable development? : Systemic capacity challenges for developing countries / J. Anthony VanDuzer -- Ploughing...

Suppose that when addressing the question of ?what?s left for the WTO?,? tariff negotiators relied not on the agenda established in 2001 but instead on the terms-of-trade theory of trade agreements to identify negotiating priorities. This paper uses the lens of the terms-of-trade theory to...

This paper views tariff-cutting formulas as a potential solution to the free-rider problem that arises when market opening is negotiated bilaterally and extended on a most-favored-nation basis. The negotiators in the Doha Agenda chose formulas that are ideal from an economic efficiency viewpoint...

At the Davos forum of January 2014, a group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on liberalizing trade in "green goods" (also known as "environmental" goods), focusing on the elimination of tariffs for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation list of 54 products. The paper shows that the...

Introduction: The Centrality of Regulation to Trade Politics -- How Regulations Became the Crux of Trade Politics -- Competitiveness and Death: Explaining the Negotiations over Regulatory Trade Barriers -- Automobiles and Regulatory Regionalism in North America and Europe -- Mad-Cow Regulations...

What does economics have to say about the design of international trade agreements? We review a literature on this question, providing detailed coverage on three key design features of the GATT/WTO: reciprocity, nondiscrimination as embodied in the MFN principle, and tariff bindings and binding...

Suppose that when addressing the question of “what's left for the WTO?,” negotiators relied not on the agenda established in 2001 but instead on the terms-of-trade theory of trade agreements to identify tariff negotiating priorities. This paper uses the lens of the terms-of-trade theory to...

What does economics have to say about the design of international trade agreements? We review a literature on this question, providing detailed coverage on three key design features of the GATT/WTO: reciprocity, nondiscrimination as embodied in the MFN principle, and tariff bindings and binding...

Suppose that when addressing the question of "what’s left for the WTO?," negotiators relied not on the agenda established in 2001 but instead on the terms-of-trade theory of trade agreements to identify tariff negotiating priorities. This paper uses the lens of the terms-of-trade theory to...

Winners and losers in global economic governance -- Who wanted what in the Doha negotiations? -- Articulating the "red lines" -- Complexity problems -- Who makes decisions? -- Institutional and political solutions.

Suppose that when addressing the question of “what’s left for the WTO?,” tariff negotiators relied not on the agenda established in 2001 but instead on the terms-of-trade theory of trade agreements to identify negotiating priorities. This paper uses the lens of the terms-of-trade theory to...

This paper views tariff-cutting formulas as a potential solution to the free-rider problem that arises when market opening is negotiated bilaterally and extended on a most-favored-nation basis. The negotiators in the Doha Agenda chose formulas that are ideal from an economic efficiency viewpoint...

What are the challenges facing negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)? By the end of this year, Trade Ministers will meet in Nairobi for a WTO Ministerial Meeting and current talks in Geneva centre upon the idea of drafting a work programme that would set the direction for concluding...

At the Davos forum of January 2014, a group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on liberalising trade in 'green goods' (also known as 'environmental goods' (EGs)), focussing on the elimination of tariffs for an 'APEC list' of 54 products. The paper shows that the 'Davos group', with...

At the 9th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Bali it was agreed to develop a work program to conclude the long-running Doha round. This report argues that any work program should recognize that goods and services are increasingly produced in international supply chains. Many of the policies...

At the Davos forum of January 2014, a group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on liberalizing trade in "green goods" (also known as "environmental" goods), focusing on the elimination of tariffs for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation list of 54 products. The paper shows that the...

The faltering Doha round has led to a renewed focus on large regional trade agreements. There are two super-RTAs in the making in the Asia-Pacific and one in the Atlantic, all with rather ambitious negotiation targets, and presented as alternate means to reset global trade rules and take the...

The Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) embodies the first set of new multilateral rules to have been negotiated under auspices of the WTO since the launch of the Doha Development Agenda, part of a small package of decisions centering on matters of interest to developing countries that was...

The new package of trade accords that was concluded at the World Trade Organisation's Bali Ministerial Meeting late last year was a fresh start for the battered international trade body. Yet defeat has been snatched from the jaws of victory. A small number of countries refuses to agree on a...

At the Davos forum of January 2014, a group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on liberalising trade in "green goods" (also known as `environmental goods'(EGs)), focussing on the elimination of tariffs for an "APEC list" of 54 products. The paper shows that the "Davos group", with an...

At the WTO summit in Bali late last year, trade ministers managed to clear the way for a new trade agreement. This is positive news - and it proves that the WTO system is not dysfunctional. The Bali agreement brings new trading opportunities for developing countries and establishes a new...

In the wake of the ninth WTO ministerial conference in Bali, in December 2013, there is renewed optimism that the WTO can deliver something. The time is therefore right for member states to strategically reappraise their positions in the context of their overarching domestic and regional trade...

Protektionismus, also die wirtschaftliche Abschottung gegenüber ausländischer Konkurrenz, verschärfte die große Weltwirtschaftskrise in den 1930er-Jahren maßgeblich. Auch zu Beginn der globalen Finanzkrise 2008 befürchteten viele Experten, die betroffenen Länder könnten sich abschotten...

Barriers to trade in Environmental Goods (EGs) and Environmental Services (ESs) are documented for a large sample of countries and compared with barriers to trade in other goods and other services. Some progress at reduction in barriers has occurred at the national, regional and sectoral levels...