On the basis of an overview of the existing academic economic literature, the study provides an impartial view of what can be said, and with what degree of confidence, on the relationship between trade and employment, an often contentious issue of public debate. Its focus is on the connections between trade policies, and labour and social policies and it will be useful to all those who are interested in this debate: academics and policy-makers, workers and employers, trade and labour specialists.

Developed to assist public understanding of the trade and environment debate in the WTO, this document briefly presents its history and focuses on trade and environment related issues within the Doha mandate, the effects of trade liberalization on the environment, the relationship between multilateral environmental agreements and the WTO, and a review of trade disputes involving environmental issues.

Global trade has contributed strongly to reducing poverty but important challenges remain in making trade work for the poorest. This publication presents eight case studies to reveal how trade can help to reduce poverty in developing countries. It focuses on four constraints faced by the extremely poor – namely that they tend to live in rural areas, work in the informal sector, live in fragile and conflict-affected regions and face gender inequality. The case studies identify ways to overcome these constraints, including through the adoption of policies that maximize the contribution of trade to poverty reduction. The studies also highlight the ongoing gaps in data and research that constrain policy-making. The publication is a follow-up to The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty, co-published by the WTO and the World Bank in 2015, which examined the challenges the poor face in benefiting from trade opportunities. The country-specific approach of this new publication complements the global perspective of the previous report.

Over the past 20 years, global trade in goods has nearly quadrupled, reaching US$ 19 trillion in 2013 compared with US$ 5 trillion in 1996. This represents an annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent on average. Over the same period, there has been a 15 per cent reduction in average tariffs applied by WTO members. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary, looks at the evolution of trade and tariffs over the past 20 years.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement is the first multilateral trade agreement to be concluded since the WTO was established 20 years ago. Once it enters into force, the Agreement is expected to reduce total trade costs by more than 14 per cent for low-income countries and more than 13 per cent for upper middle-income countries by streamlining the flow of trade across borders. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary, looks into the provisions of the Agreement and its potential benefits.

The availability of trade finance has become an increasingly important issue in the past few years. As international banks have become less willing to provide trade finance guarantees, particularly in developing countries, this has reduced the capacity of local banks to provide credit to businesses wishing to trade, leading to a significant gap between the demand and supply of trade finance. Small and medium-sized enterprises have been especially hard-hit by this trade finance gap. This publication delves into the global trade finance gap and the reasons for the growing reluctance of the global financial sector to engage in this form of financing. It examines the challenges of regulatory compliance and describes the efforts of international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the International Finance Corporation, to respond to this issue. It also presents case studies of the capacity-building programmes organized by multilateral development banks which aim to improve the availability of trade finance.

Graduation from the status of least-developed country (LDC) marks an important milestone in the development path of each LDC. At the same time, the phasing-out of international support measures associated with LDC status, including trade preferences and special treatment in the WTO, could present challenges for graduating LDCs in their efforts to continue integration into the global economy. A quarter of LDCs were on track to graduate from LDC status prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Trade impacts of LDC graduation: Insights from countryspecific market access analyses” complements the report “Trade impacts of LDC graduation” issued in May 2020, and examines in greater detail the impact of graduation on preferential market access for each of the 12 graduating LDCs. The report looks at the export structure of graduating LDCs, the likely increase of tariffs on their exported products and projected changes in trade flows employing a partial equilibrium model. It sheds light on products and destination markets that require specific attention from graduating LDCs as they prepare for graduation.

Trade multilateralism in the twenty-first-century century faces a serious test as weakness in the global economy and fast-paced technological changes create a challenging environment for world trade. This book examines how an updated and robust, rules-based multilateral framework, anchored in the WTO, remains indispensable to maximizing the benefits of global economic integration and to reviving world trade. By examining recent accessions to the WTO, it reveals how the growing membership of the WTO has helped to support domestic reforms and to strengthen the rules-based framework of the WTO. It argues that the new realities of the twenty-first century require an upgrade to the architecture of the multilateral trading system. By erecting its 'upper floors' on the foundation of existing trade rules, the WTO can continue to adapt to a fast-changing environment and to maximize the benefits brought about by its ever-expanding membership.

“Trade Policy Reviews” analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body. The opening section - “key trade facts” - provides a visual overview of the WTO member’s major exports/imports, main export destinations, origins for its imports and other key data. This edition looks into the trade practices of Albania.

“Trade Policy Reviews” analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body. The opening section - “key trade facts” - provides a visual overview of the WTO member’s major exports/imports, main export destinations, origins for its imports and other key data. This edition looks into the trade practices of Argentina.