Books

Natural energy sources, such as solar, wind and water, are abundant, but they are not evenly distributed worldwide. The transmission of power across borders can help address imbalances between electricity supply and demand from renewable sources, contributing to security of supply. Security of energy supply is a core concern for countries around the world, especially in the context of the transition to renewable energy, which lies at the heart of efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, only 2.8% of electricity generated is traded across borders. As the share of weather-dependent renewable power generation increases in the global energy mix, the World Meteorological Organization has a critical role to play in upgrading climate services to support decision-making in the energy sector. Trade also has a role to play to help balance power grids through interconnection with overland and undersea electricity cables. Such cables open up the possibility of bringing new suppliers with significant natural solar, wind and water endowments into energy trade. However, interconnection cables are complex and costly infrastructure, with projects taking 10-15 years to complete. This report discusses how to speed up interconnection projects. Actions identified include ensuring better access to sustainable trade finance and climate finance. Also important is improving the predictability and transparency of regulatory approval processes for these projects. WTO rules may also help to address bottlenecks in the supply chains of goods and services needed for grid and interconnection expansion. Trading renewable energy across borders could help economies meet their decarbonization commitments and reduce the overall cost of the global transition to low-carbon energy.

“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 Sierra Leone.

“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 Norway.

“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 Australia.

This paper explores the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to automate Harmonized System (HS) tariff line transposition, employing a three-stage process: unique 1:1 tariff code matching (Round 1), exact description matching (Round 2), and “smart” description matching (Round 3) using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and lexical similarity methods paired with harmonized 6-digit concordance and cosine similarity. Similarity is calculated using either Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) vectors or Sentence-BERT (SBERT) embeddings, comparing two scenarios: a straightforward case (Economy A) with standardized descriptions, and a complex case (Economy B), with more detailed technical descriptions.

World Tariff Profiles 2025 provides comprehensive information on the tariffs and non-tariff measures imposed by over 170 countries and customs territories. The publication starts with a breakdown of the tariffs imposed by these economies. Tariff data are presented in comparative tables and in one-page profiles for each economy. A summary table on selected indicators on the imports and exports profile for these economies is also presented. Statistics on non tariff measures by economy and by product group complement the data on tariffs. The special topic deals with “Global trade on most-favoured-nation terms”. The publication is jointly prepared by the World Trade Organization, the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Can the flow of goods, services, and ideas build bridges where conflict once prevailed? If so, under whatcircumstances? The World Trade Organization (WTO) stands for a predictable, rules-based system based on the principle of non-discrimination. When the predecessor to the WTO – the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – was established some 70 years ago, conflict among nations was at an historic low, following World War II. In the changed global political landscape of today, geopolitical tensions, disruptions to trade and increasing concerns about economic inequality have come to the fore, challenging the foundations of multilateral trade relationships, and trade cooperation more generally. Pathways to Sustainable Trade and Peace is the first WTO publication dedicated to an in-depth exploration of the complex relationship between trade and peace. The publication examines a number of critical questions. How do trade and peace interact? Can trade be leveraged to foster economic development and stability? What can governments and other stakeholders do to foster positive interaction between trade and peace? The volume focuses specifically but not exclusively on fragile and conflict-affected economies, including case studies and analyses from various policy angles.

The WTO’s “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” presents the WTO Secretariat’s forecasts for world trade in 2025 and 2026. Breakdowns of merchandise and commercial services trade by sector and region are provided, together with details on leading traders. An analytical chapter looks at the limits of trade policy in influencing trade imbalances. The report is timed to coincide with the release of the WTO’s latest quarterly and annual trade statistics, which can be downloaded from the WTO’s online database at stats.wto.org.

Le rapport “Perspectives et statistiques du commerce mondial” de l’OMC présente les prévisions du Secrétariat de l’OMC concernant le commerce mondial pour 2025 et 2026. Il contient des ventilations du commerce des marchandises et du commerce des services commerciaux par secteur et par région, ainsi que des renseignements détaillés concernant les principaux pays importateurs et exportateurs. Un chapitre analytique examine les effets économiques de l’incertitude dans le domaine de la politique commerciale. La publication du rapport coïncide avec celle des dernières statistiques commerciales trimestrielles et annuelles de l’OMC, qui peuvent être téléchargées à partir de la base de données en ligne de l’Organisation à l’adresse suivante: stats.wto.org.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the integral role of international trade in responding to the global health crisis. All communities depended to some extent on trade for medical products, related services and vaccines. In particular, the pandemic accentuated the mutual benefit from the core principles of the multilateral trading system, especially the benefits of open and well-functioning international production and supply chains, and non-discriminatory measures. This publication looks into the WTO’s response to the pandemic in terms of four key areas: monitoring the flow of goods related to COVID-19, working towards a coordinated and effective international response to the pandemic, conducting policy and statistical analysis with other intergovernmental organizations, and analysing the lessons learned from the pandemic to shape a blueprint for future international cooperation. The publication examines how WTO members negotiated a framework to guide and consolidate the WTO’s response to the pandemic, to enhance the flow of practical knowledge, and to help render the multilateral trading system better prepared for future crises. Negotiations resulted in the Ministerial Declaration on the WTO Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Preparedness for Future Pandemics adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022. The importance of this work was confirmed in the Ministerial Declaration issued in March 2024 at MC13, which encouraged relevant WTO bodies to continue their work on reviewing the lessons learned from the pandemic and on building effective solutions in case of future pandemics.