We study the sustainability of international trading rules in a multipolar world. A rules-based equilibrium is shaped by three forces. A static temptation to exploit market power undermines cooperation, while two dynamic forces support it: the efficiency gains from rules and the cost of...

Transnationale Subventionen sind ein relativ neues wirtschaftspolitisches Phänomen, das eng mit Chinas "Going Global"-Politik im Rahmen der Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) verknüpft ist. Die Einfuhr subventionierter Waren aus BRI-Partnerstaaten in die Europäische Union (EU) und in die...

Transnationale Subventionen sind ein relativ neues wirtschaftspolitisches Phänomen, das eng mit Chinas „Going Global“-Politik im Rahmen der Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) verknüpft ist. Die Einfuhr subventionierter Waren aus BRI-Partnerstaaten in die Europäische Union (EU) und in die...

The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle has historically been instrumental in promoting stability and equitable trade conditions. In recent decades there has been a rise in bilateral and regional trade agreements, which deviate from the MFN principle in providing more favourable tariff...

The second administration of United States President Donald Trump has shaken the foundations of the multilateral trading system by implementing unilateral tariffs on imports from most of its partners, and by signing 'deals' with a few of them. It is impossible to legally reconcile these actions...

Members of the World Trade Organization are increasingly disregarding its rules, raising concerns about the future of the multilateral trading system. To analyze the sustainability of the rules-based trade regime, we develop a dynamic framework of stochastic asynchronous games where the leading...

One of the most notable developments in the asset management industry in recent decades has been the growth of algorithmic trading. At the same time, significant structural changes in the industry have occurred, with passive investing gaining momentum. The intersection of these two major trends...

Do countries gain more by liberalizing trade together than alone? To answer this question, we study the 2015 Phase II expansion of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which eliminated tariffs on products covering over 12% of world trade. Market access rose by 4-6%. Nearly half of this...

Using Chinese firm-level trade data combined with global anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations, we uncover a previously overlooked cost of industrial policy under WTO agreements. At every stage of AD/CVD investigation, subsidies significantly raise the probability of...

Zuletzt ließ sich ein globaler Trend zu Verschärfungen von Ausfuhrkontrollen bei Dual-Use-Gütern beobachten. Insbesondere in der EU, den USA und China gab es rechtliche Neuerungen, die der Beitrag vergleichend untersucht. Die Untersuchung stellt dabei zunächst die jüngsten Entwicklungen dar...

While the European Union (EU) and its Member States (MSs) are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on their own right and as such have their own SPS Enquiry Points, the EU authority responsible for implementing the notification requirements of the SPS Agreement is centralised in DG...

Die Zollpolitik der Trump-Administration verletzt Zollbindungen der USA in der WTO. Die exorbitanten "reziproken" Zölle verstossen sodann gegen das Prinzip der Meistbegünstigung. Gestützt auf die Rechtslage muss auf einen raschen Deal mit den USA verzichtet werden. Vielmehr sind die in der...

This paper quantifies the value of timely WTO notifications for Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs). Using French firm-level export data, I find that advance notice halves the negative impact of TBTs on export participation, by reducing temporary exits and supporting entry, particularly among...

The e-commerce sector is rapidly growing globally with the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 58 per cent of global retail e-commerce in 2022, and India, Singapore, China, and Japan leading this growth. The discussion on e-commerce and trade at the global level began in 1998 with the...

How do import tariffs affect employment? We develop an empirical strategy to identify the effects of tariffs using difference-in-differences, comparing anti-dumping (AD) investigations resulting in dumping tariffs to those not resulting in dumping tariffs. We find that an AD tariff decreases...

The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle has historically been instrumental in promoting stability and equitable trade conditions. In recent decades there has been a rise in bilateral and regional trade agreements, which deviate from the MFN principle in providing more favourable tariff...

This paper examines the evolution of global merchandise trade, between 2010 and 2022, assessing the share of imports subject to regional trade agreements (RTAs). A key question for us is whether the share of merchandise trade subject to preferences has kept pace with the proliferation in RTAs....

This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) on industrial designs, and the manner in which the narrow aspects dealt with by the Agreement have been addressed by European Union (EU) legislation. The paper...

This new edition provides an introduction to the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture, outlining its key principles, the work of the Agriculture Committee, and how disputes have interpreted WTO law on agriculture. This publication forms part of the WTO Agreements Series, which aims to assist...

When the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided in 2024 to produce a report on the trade implications of artificial intelligence (AI), it set out to answer two key questions: How can the WTO help ensure that the benefits of AI are widespread? And, how can the challenges surrounding AI be...

As digital trade becomes an increasingly vital component of the global economy, identifying the impact of wider international cooperation on digital trade issues becomes a growing policy imperative. This paper seeks to provide a quantitative analysis of the potential economic impacts of...