International trade offers unique opportunities to help tackle mounting environmental challenges while fostering economic and social prosperity. This new co-publication by the World Trade Organization and UN Environment illustrates how trade can support action by governments, companies, innovators and consumers to improve economies and protect the environment at the same time.

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have proliferated around the world in the past two decades, and now nearly all members of the WTO are party to at least one. Besides tariffs and rules of origin regulating trade in goods, many RTAs now include provisions on services, investments, technical barriers to trade and competition rules, as well as a host of issues not directly related to trade. The geographic reach of RTAs is expanding, with transcontinental agreements spreading forcefully alongside intra-regional agreements. ‘Multilateralizing Regionalism’ was the title of a major conference held from 10–12 September 2007 at the WTO in Geneva. Brought together in this publication, the conference papers achieve two things. First, they marshall detailed, new empirical work on the nature of the ‘Spaghetti Bowl’ and the problems it poses for the multilateral trade system. Second, they contribute fresh and creative thinking on how to ‘tame the tangle’ of regional trade agreements.

Lamy calls for exit strategies on temporary trade restrictions and subsidies: Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his annual report on trade and trade-related developments in 2009, said that “although there have been instances of slippage, in general terms the world economy is about as open for trade today as it was before the crisis started.” He called on members “to devise and announce exit strategies to remove trade restrictions and production subsidies that they have introduced temporarily to counteract the effects of the crisis, and start implementing those strategies as soon as domestic economic recovery takes hold.”

Lamy calls for trade opening to continue as global economic outlook worsens: Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his annual report to WTO members on developments in the international trading environment, published on 21 November 2011, told members that “in a context of greater economic uncertainty and rising global risks, it is all the more important that the process of global trade opening continues”. In the light of a worsening of the global economy in recent months, with the forecast for world export growth revised downwards to 5.8% in 2011, he warned that unilateral action to shield domestic industries will not solve global problems but might make things worse by triggering a spiral of tit-for-tat reactions in which every country will lose.

Azevêdo says rise in trade restrictions “cause for concern”: Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, in introducing his annual report “Developments in the International Trading Environment” to the Trade Policy Review Body on 8 December, said that “the stock of trade restrictions introduced by WTO members since 2008 continues to rise”. He said that “in a climate of economic uncertainty the continued accumulation of trade-restrictive measures poses a clear risk”.

WTO report finds no acceleration in trade restrictions but slow pace for barrier removal: WTO members have continued to show some restraint in introducing new trade-restrictive measures and have also adopted a record number of trade facilitation measures during the period of October 2014 to October 2015 according to the Director-General’s annual report on trade-related developments. However, the report, which was discussed at the 9 December meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), raises concerns over the increase in the stockpile of trade-restrictive measures recorded since 2008.

WTO members show restraint in trade restrictions despite ongoing economic uncertainties: WTO members introduced fewer trade-restrictive measures from mid-October 2016 to mid-October 2017 compared to the previous year, according to the Director-General’s annual overview report on trade-related developments presented to members on 4 December. WTO members continued to implement more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures. The estimated trade coverage of the import-facilitating measures recorded in the review period was more than double the import-restricting measures. In addition, the import-facilitating measures implemented during the review period in the context of the expanded Information Technology Agreement (ITA) amounted to around US$ 385 billion.

The Director-General’s latest annual overview of trade-related developments shows a marked slowdown in the number of trade-restrictive and trade-facilitating measures adopted by WTO members related to goods trade over the past year. The report, presented at a 11 December meeting of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), notes the decrease observed in regular measures between mid-October 2019 and mid-October 2020 was mainly the result of the sharp decline in overall global trade since the COVID-19 outbreak. The document at the same time provides information about the numerous trade-facilitating and support measures introduced by WTO economies in response to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ensure a solid economic recovery.

Los Perfiles arancelarios en el mundo 2016 ofrecen una información exhaustiva las medidas arancelarias y no arancelarias impuestas por más de 170 países y territorios aduaneros.