Economic research and trade policy analysis

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has exposed the upsides and downsides of international trade in medical goods and services. Open trade can increase access to medical services and goods—and the critical inputs needed to manufacture them—improve quality and variety, and reduce costs. However, excessive concentration of production, restrictive trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory divergence can jeopardize the ability of public health systems to respond to pandemics and other health crises. Trade Therapy: Deepening Cooperation to Strengthen Pandemic Defenses, coordinated by Nadia Rocha and Michele Ruta at the World Bank and Marc Bacchetta and Joscelyn Magdeleine at the World Trade Organization, provides new data on trade in medical goods and services and medical value chains, surveys the evolving policy landscape before and during the pandemic, and proposes an action plan to improve trade policies and deepen international cooperation to deal with future pandemics. As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers, the focus of policy action is on the response, which includes actions aimed at removing bottlenecks and providing government support to promote equitable access to vaccines. As the emergency subsides, the focus should shift to prevention and preparedness. Steps to close information gaps—building on the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19, the ACT-Accelerator, and the open markets, for example—by negotiating tariff reductions on medical goods and greater market access in services should take priority. Also important are measures to improve the efficiency of markets, which include harmonizing regulation through mutual recognition or equivalence of standards and creating international standards for essential medical goods, inputs, and production processes. Agreement on a crisis rulebook to be deployed during an emergency—including clear and agreed limits on export policy flexibility and shared rules on intellectual property flexibilities—would provide a more solid policy foundation to address future challenges.

Climate change is having a profound impact on people’s lives across the world. Mitigating and adapting to climate change will require major economic investment and coordinated action to transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. The World Trade Report 2022 explores the complex interlinkages between climate change, international trade, and climate and trade policies. Although international trade generates greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate-related natural disasters, it can also play an essential role in helping countries reduce emissions by increasing the availability and affordability of environmental goods, services and technologies. International trade can also play a key role in helping countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and build future resilience. The World Trade Report 2022 shows how international trade and trade rules can contribute to addressing climate change. Ensuring trade and climate change policies are mutually supportive requires global coordination and transparency about government measures. The WTO already plays an important role in helping countries tackle climate change by maintaining a predictable trading environment underpinned by WTO rules that allow for international trade in critical goods and services needed to cope with the consequences of climate change and to reduce emissions. Further international cooperation at the WTO could strengthen the mutual supportiveness of trade and climate change policies so that the world is better equipped to transition to a low-carbon economy.

In December 2022, the Gender Research Hub organized, alongside the WTO, the World Trade Congress on Gender – the first international research conference to focus on trade and gender. This high-level event brought together eminent trade and gender experts to present the latest research in the field. It also provided a platform for researchers and policymakers to exchange views and build partnerships to promote further innovative research. This publication builds on many of the research papers presented by trade and gender researchers at the Congress. The research presented at the Congress and in this publication reaffirms key gender principles and provides evidence that women face higher barriers than men when seeking to access opportunities created by trade. It also shows that trade policy can help women overcome obstacles. In addition, the research reaffirms the importance of making trade inclusive and demonstrates that making trade policies more responsive to gender issues improves gender equality in trade, supports poverty reduction and fosters sustainable growth.

The WTO’s “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” analyses recent global trade developments through the second quarter of 2023 and presents the organization’s updated forecasts for merchandise trade volume in 2023 and 2024. Developments in merchandise and commercial services trade in value terms are also shown, with breakdowns by sector and region. 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.

This publication provides handy one-page summaries of the key findings of every dispute panel report issued up to the end of 2022 and the relevant Appellate Body reports issued over this period. Each one-page summary comprises the core facts, the key findings contained in the reports and any other matters of particular significance. Two indexes list the disputes by WTO agreement and by WTO member responding to the complaint.

Au cours des dernières décennies, le secteur des services a été la principale source de croissance économique. Si la logistique, la finance et les technologies de l'information jouent un rôle essentiel dans le fonctionnement des économies modernes, les services fournis aux entreprises, les soins de santé et les loisirs figurent parmi les secteurs dont la croissance est la plus forte au monde. Cette publication – publiée conjointement par la Banque mondiale et l'OMC – met en avant la contribution que le commerce et l'investissement dans le secteur des services peuvent apporter à la croissance et au développement économiques. Elle souligne, en particulier, qu'il est important de redynamiser la coopération internationale dans le commerce des services et invite à réfléchir sur la manière de mobiliser au mieux l'aide pour les économies en développement et les économies les moins avancées dans la mise en œuvre des réformes du secteur des services, afin que celles-ci puissent tirer parti de l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur.

World Tariff Profiles 2023 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 country and by product group complement the data on tariffs. Under the special topics part, there are two technical papers. The first one analyses the evolution of market access over 16 years of World Tariff Profiles and the second one focuses on Product classification for WTO trade statistics and policy analysis - Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTN) Categories. The publication is jointly prepared by the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action, a publication by the WTO Secretariat, looks into the trade policies that governments could consider as part of their strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The publication covers ten policy areas where governments have introduced measures to support the transition to a low-carbon economy, improve the flow of climate-friendly goods and services, decarbonize supply chains, and build resilience to extreme weather events and climate change. Launched at COP28, the publication is intended to shed light on how trade policy actions for climate could accelerate the transition to a climate-friendly global economy as part of the WTO Secretariat’s efforts to encourage the full use of the power of trade to deliver on collective sustainable development objectives, including those in relation to the climate crisis.

Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam – the so-called Mekong-3 - have experienced rapid trade growth over the last ten years. However, growth could be boosted even further by improving access to trade finance, such as loans and guarantees, for locally owned businesses seeking to trade globally. This publication presents the results of two surveys undertaken by the IFC to determine the level of trade finance available to businesses in the Mekong region. An analysis of the data conducted by the WTO explores the potential impact of an expansion in trade finance and how this could lead to greater integration into world trade and more inclusiveness, with increased participation in global supply chains by small businesses and women-owned enterprises. The publication is intended to serve as a guide to how domestic financial sectors can reorient their operations to support cross-border trade and enhanced access to global markets.

La inteligencia artificial (IA) está transformando la forma en que vivimos, trabajamos, producimos y comerciamos. Se prevé que, a medida que se vaya desarrollando, irá abriendo oportunidades económicas y sociales sin precedentes. No obstante, es también una fuente de riesgos y desafíos importantes. En el presente informe se examina la intersección de la IA y el comercio internacional, y se analiza la manera en que la IA puede configurar el futuro del comercio internacional, al reducir los costos del comercio, mejorar la productividad y ampliar las ventajas comparativas de las economías. En el informe se examinan algunas de las principales consideraciones de política comercial, en particular, la necesidad urgente de abordar la brecha cada vez mayor en materia de IA entre las distintas economías y entre las grandes y pequeñas empresas, así como las cuestiones relacionadas con la gobernanza de los datos y la propiedad intelectual. También se estudia cómo garantizar la fiabilidad de la IA sin obstaculizar el comercio. En el informe se presenta un panorama general de las iniciativas gubernamentales adoptadas a nivel nacional, regional e internacional para promover y regular la IA, y se destaca el riesgo de fragmentación de la reglamentación resultante. Por último, en el informe se aborda el papel fundamental de la OMC por lo que se refiere a facilitar el comercio relacionado con la IA, garantizar la fiabilidad de la IA y hacer frente a las tensiones comerciales emergentes, y se señala que la rápida evolución de la IA plantea dudas sobre sus consecuencias para las normas del comercio internacional.

L’intelligence artificielle (IA) transforme la manière dont nous vivons, travaillons, produisons et faisons du commerce. En continuant de se développer, elle devrait ouvrir des possibilités économiques et sociétales sans précédent. Toutefois, elle est aussi une source de risques et de défis importants. Le présent rapport examine l’intersection de l’IA et du commerce international. Il se penche sur la manière dont l’IA pourrait façonner l’avenir du commerce international en réduisant les coûts du commerce, en améliorant la productivité et en développant les avantages comparatifs des économies. Il passe en revue certaines des principales considérations politiques liées au commerce, en particulier la nécessité urgente de remédier à la fracture croissante en matière d’IA entre les économies et entre les grandes et les petites entreprises, et la nécessité urgente d’aborder les questions de gouvernance des données et de propriété intellectuelle. Il examine comment garantir une IA digne de confiance sans entraver le commerce. Il donne aussi un aperçu des initiatives gouvernementales prises aux échelles nationale, régionale et internationale visant à promouvoir et à réglementer l’IA et met l’accent sur le risque de fragmentation de la réglementation qui en résulte. Enfin, le rapport examine le rôle essentiel que joue l’OMC dans la facilitation du commerce lié à l’IA, dans la garantie d’une IA digne de confiance et dans la résolution des tensions commerciales émergentes, notant que l’évolution rapide de l’IA soulève des questions sur ses implications pour les règles du commerce international.

La publicación “Perfiles arancelarios en el mundo 2023” ofrece información exhaustiva sobre los aranceles impuestos por más de 170 países y territorios aduaneros. La publicación comienza con un desglose de los aranceles impuestos por esas economías. Los datos se presentan en cuadros sinópticos y en perfiles individuales de una página para cada economía. Se proporciona también una tabla recapitulativa sobreeterminados indicadores relativos a los perfiles de importación y de exportación para estas economías. A continuación figura una sección sobre la utilización de las medidas no arancelarias, que están adquiriendo una importancia cada vez mayor en el comercio internacional. En el apartado/la sección de los temas especiales, figuran dos documentos técnicos. En el primero se analizan la evolución del acceso a los mercados en los 16 años de la publicación Perfiles Arancelarios en el Mundo y el segundo se centra en la Clasificación de productos utilizada por la OMC en las estadísticas comerciales y el análisis de políticas – Categorías de las Negociaciones Comerciales Multilaterales.

L'établissement du système commercial multilatéral, il y a plus de 70 ans, reposait sur l'idée que l'interdépendance et la coopération contribuaient à la paix et à la prospérité de tous. Plus récemment, toutefois, de nouveaux défis sont apparus, comme les tensions géopolitiques, l'augmentation des inégalités et les changements climatiques, et ont suscité la crainte que la mondialisation n'expose les pays à des risques excessifs. Ces craintes ont intensifié les pressions exercées pour revenir sur les relations commerciales et se tourner vers des politiques unilatérales au moyen d'un processus de fragmentation. Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial de cette année examine les avantages de l'intégration dans le commerce mondial ainsi que les risques liés à la fragmentation. Il montre que le commerce s'est révélé être une source de sécurité et de paix, un vecteur de réduction de la pauvreté et un outil essentiel pour lutter contre les changements climatiques. Le rapport fait valoir que, pour rendre nos économies plus sûres, plus inclusives et plus durables, la remondialisation, à savoir l'intégration d'un plus grand nombre de personnes, d'économies et de questions urgentes dans le commerce mondial et le renforcement de la coopération multilatérale, est une solution beaucoup plus efficace que la fragmentation pour relever les défis mondiaux. Les problèmes mondiaux appellent des solutions mondiales, ce qui signifie que dans le monde d'aujourd'hui, il faut davantage de coopération, pas moins. Un système commercial multilatéral redynamisé chapeauté par l'OMC a un rôle important à jouer dans ce processus.

La publication intitulée « Profils tarifaires dans le monde 2023 » donne des renseignements complets sur les droits imposés par plus de 170 pays et territoires douaniers. La publication commence par une ventilation des droits de douane appliqués par ces économies. Les données sont présentées dans des tableaux récapitulatifs et sous forme de profils individuels d’une page pour chaque économie. Un tableau récapitulatif concernant certains indicateurs relatifs au profil des importations et des exportations pour ces économies est aussi disponible. Vient ensuite une section qui porte sur l’utilisation des mesures non tarifaires, qui sont de plus en plus importantes dans le commerce international. La partie consacrée aux sujets spéciaux comprend deux documents techniques. Le premier analyse l’évolution de l’accès aux marchés au cours de 16 années de « Profils tarifaires dans le monde » et le second met l’accent sur la classification des produits aux fins des statistiques commerciales et analyses de politiques établies par l’OMC – catégories utilisées dans les négociations commerciales multilatérales (NCM).

“World Trade Statistical Review” looks into the latest trends in global trade, with in-depth analysis of what is being traded and who the key players are. Analytical chapters are complemented by over 65 tables providing a detailed breakdown of the goods and services being traded and the leading exporters/importers.

" L'Examen statistique du commerce mondial" étudie les évolutions récentes du commerce mondial et fournit une analyse détaillée de la nature des échanges et des principaux acteurs. Les chapitres analytiques sont complétés par plus de 65 tableaux qui détaillent les marchandises et services échangés et les principaux exportateurs et importateurs.

Les « Perspectives du commerce mondial et statistiques » de l’OMC analyse l’évolution récente du commerce mondial jusqu’au quatrième trimestre de 2023 et présente les prévisions de l’OMC concernant le commerce mondial pour 2024 et 2025. 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 commerçants. 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.

Over the past 30 years, the world has witnessed a period of unprecedented income convergence, as the wide gap in income levels between economies has narrowed. Economic growth has improved living conditions and prospects for many people around the world. However, not all individuals, regions and economies have benefited equally from the changes brought about by more open trade. The World Trade Report 2024 explores the complex interlinkages between trade and inclusiveness across and within economies. Openness to international trade can drive economic growth, but many low- and middle-income economies struggle to diversify or to integrate into world trade. Although trade supports numerous jobs and provides access to affordable goods and services, some individuals can face challenges in adapting to new economic conditions following trade openness. However, trade protectionism neither protects the overall economy, nor promotes inclusiveness within economies. Diversifying global value chains, reducing trade costs through digitalization, and transitioning to a low-carbon economy can create new opportunities for low- and middle-income economies. Addressing remaining barriers to trade and investment, facilitating the implementation of existing WTO agreements, and ensuring that the WTO is fit for new challenges are crucial to support inclusiveness across and within economies. Furthermore, trade policies need to be complemented by domestic measures, such as labour, education and competition policies, so that the gains from trade can flow to workers and consumers, and so that those individuals can move to benefit from those gains. WTO cooperation with other international organizations can magnify combined action on inclusiveness across and within economies.

What is “digital trade” and how can it be measured and monitored to support policymakers in navigating the digital transformation of international commerce? Digital technologies have made it increasingly feasible for buyers and sellers to place and receive orders on a global scale. They also enable the instantaneous remote delivery of services directly into businesses and homes, including internationally. By focusing on these two criteria – digital ordering and digital delivery across borders – the Handbook on Measuring Digital Trade sets out a conceptual and measurement framework for digital trade that aligns with the broader standards for macroeconomic statistics. This second edition of the Handbook is the outcome of a partnership between the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), resulting in a comprehensive agreed approach. This Handbook aims to help statistical compilers to address policymakers’ needs for statistical evidence on digital trade. It includes extensive compilation guidance, drawing upon substantive inputs and case studies from both developed and developing economies and covering a variety of survey and non-survey sources. A reporting template is also proposed to support compilers in the production and dissemination of digital trade statistics. This Handbook thereby establishes a valuable shared foundation for understanding and measuring digital trade in a way that is internationally comparable. Furthermore, it provides a crucial resource for an active programme of technical assistance and statistical capacity-building, through which the four co-authoring partner organizations can support statistical compilers as they seek to measure, monitor and respond to the challenges of digital trade.

Les Profils tarifaires dans le monde 2024 contiennent des renseignements détaillés sur les droits de douane et les mesures non tarifaires appliqués par plus de 170 pays et territoires douaniers. La publication commence par une ventilation des droits de douane appliqués par ces économies. Les données tarifaires sont présentées dans des tableaux comparatifs et sous forme de profils individuels d'une page pour chaque économie. Un tableau récapitulatif concernant certains indicateurs relatifs au profil des importations et des exportations pour ces économies est aussi disponible. Les données tarifaires sont complétées par des statistiques sur les mesures non tarifaires, par économie et par groupe de produits. Le sujet spécial traité dans la publication porte sur le thème "Droits de douane visant les minéraux essentiels à la chaîne de valeur des véhicules électriques". Cette publication est établie conjointement par l’Organisation mondiale du commerce, la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement (CNUCED) et le Centre du commerce international (ITC).

The WTO’s “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” analyses recent global trade developments. Breakdowns of merchandise and commercial services trade by sector and region are provided, together with details on leading traders. 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.

The report of the Joint Task Force on Climate Action, Carbon Pricing, and Policy Spillovers, with participation by the IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, World Bank, and WTO, makes four main contributions. First, it reflects on a common understanding of carbon pricing metrics which inform on the incentives to decarbonize and on cross-country variation in carbon prices, a key determinant of international spillover effects and competitiveness concerns. Second, the report analyzes the appropriate mixes of climate change mitigation policies, emphasizing the pivotal role of carbon pricing as the only policy implementing the polluter pays principle while generating revenues. Third, it analyzes how international organizations can support the coordination of policies to maximize positive and limit negative cross-border spillovers from climate change mitigation policies. Finally, it discusses how such coordination can help to scale up climate action by closing the transparency gap, the implementation gap, and the ambition gap.

Cross‑border data flows are the lifeblood of today’s social and economic interactions, but they also raise a range of new challenges, including for privacy and data protection, national security, cybersecurity, digital protectionism and regulatory reach. This has led to a surge in regulation conditioning (or prohibiting) its flow or mandating that data be stored or processed domestically (data localisation). However, the economic implications of these measures are not well understood. This report provides estimates on what is at stake, highlighting that full fragmentation could reduce global GDP by 4.5%. It also underscores the benefits associated with open regimes with safeguards which could see global GDP increase by 1.7%. In a world where digital fragmentation is growing, global discussions on these issues can help harness the benefits of an open and safeguarded internet.

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.

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.

Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2020 a été établi sous la responsabilité générale de Xiaozhun Yi, Directeur général adjoint de l’OMC, et de Robert Koopman, Directeur de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques. La rédaction du Rapport a été coordonnée par Marc Auboin et Ankai Xu. Les auteurs du rapport sont Marc Auboin, Marc Bacchetta, Cosimo Beverelli, Eddy Bekkers, Kian Cassehgari Posada, Emmanuelle Ganne, John Hancock, Kathryn Lundquist, Gabrielle Marceau, José-Antonio Monteiro, Roberta Piermartini, Stela Rubínová, Victor Stolzenburg, Ankai Xu et Qing Ye (Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques).

The US dollar value of world merchandise trade fell 23 per cent in 2009 to US$ 12.1 trillion, down from US$ 16.1 trillion in 2008. Some of this decline was due to changes in trade volumes, while much of the rest can be explained by falling commodity prices in 2009, particularly for oil. After rising to record levels in 2008, world crude oil prices plunged 37 per cent in 2009, from US$ 95 per barrel to US$ 60 per barrel on average. As a result, nominal trade developments for particular countries and regions may differ substantially from developments in volume terms, particularly for oil exporters on the export side and oil importers on the import side.

Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial a été rédigé sous la supervision de Patrick Low, Directeur de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques. Ses principaux auteurs sont Bijit Bora, K. Michael Finger, Marion Jansen, Alexander Keck, Patrick Low, Hildegunn Nordas, Roberta Piermartini et Robert Teh. Les données sur le commerce et les informations sur les droits de douane ont été fournies par les statisticiens de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques, dont les travaux ont été coordonnés par Guy Karsenty, Julia de Verteuil, Andreas Maurer et Jürgen Richtering.

This chapter examines how enforcement of labour regulation shapes the labour market effects of trade. To do so, we focus on the early 1990s Brazilian trade liberalization episode, which was a unilateral and extensive tariff reduction process.

Air transport, like other transport services, is associated with international trade in two distinct ways. First, air transport is traded as a service in its own right. Second, it is a key intermediate service for many other kinds of trade, in the domain of both goods and services (such as tourism). Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of an efficient, effective and reliable air transport infrastructure, especially in developing countries, to ensure the materialization of the gains from trade (WTO, 2004). These studies also highlight the important role of international civil aviation in contributing to the development process and its role in the leisure and commercial decisions of many people. This importance is expected to increase as a result of technological innovation, deregulation and enhanced market access for foreign companies, which are all making air transport more accessible to a wider set of customers in a broader range of countries.

This year’s World Trade Report explores the role of trade in a world characterized over the last several decades by increasing dependence among nations. This inter-dependency – what we all call globalization today – is a multi-layered and complex phenomenon involving intensive political, social and economic interaction nationally and internationally. Few would contest the benefits that globalization has brought in terms of greater prosperity for hundreds of millions, as well as greater stability among nations. But many individuals in different societies across the world have shared little or not at all in the benefits of globalization. The challenges facing national governments in managing globalization are formidable, and success in spreading prosperity more widely requires a strong common purpose.

This report deals with the relevant WTO Agreements and the way they may influence health and health policies. In undertaking this joint study, the WHO and WTO Secretariats seek to examine the linkages between trade and health policies, so as to enable both trade and health officials to better understand and monitor the effects of these linkages.

This section focuses on how new technologies are transforming international trade, creating new opportunities for a more inclusive trading system and raising new challenges. The section opens with a discussion of how digital technologies affect international trade costs. This is followed by an assessment of how digital technologies change the nature of what is traded, how we trade and who trades what. Finally, the potential impact of important trends in technological development is quantified and long-term projections on international trade are made, using the WTO Global Trade Model.

En esta sección se examinan datos empíricos sobre los efectos del comercio en los salarios y el empleo, y se plantean las siguientes cuestiones cruciales: ¿qué datos hay sobre la repercusión de la competencia de las importaciones y la deslocalización en los salarios y el empleo? ¿Cómo afectan al empleo un mayor acceso a los mercados de exportación y el abaratamiento de los insumos importados? ¿Cómo pueden compaginarse datos empíricos heterogéneos de diferentes países? ¿Cómo afecta la naturaleza del mercado de trabajo a los resultados? ¿De qué magnitud son los costos de ajuste a los cambios ligados al comercio? Esta sección se centra en particular en los salarios y el empleo porque la investigación sobre otros aspectos del mercado de trabajo, como la estabilidad y la seguridad en el empleo, está mucho menos avanzada debido a la falta de datos nacionales, lo que impide examinar la incidencia del comercio y la tecnología sobre estas otras variables.

What have WTO accessions contributed to the rules-based multilateral trading system? What demands have been made by original WTO members on acceding governments? How have the acceding governments fared? This volume of essays offers critical readings on how WTO accession negotiations have expanded the reach of the multilateral trading system not only geographically but also conceptually, clarifying disciplines and pointing the way to their further strengthening in future negotiations. Members who have acceded since the WTO was established now account for twenty per wto_cent of total WTO membership. In the age of globalization there is an increased need for a universal system of trade rules. Accession negotiations have been used by governments as an instrument for domestic reforms, and one lesson from the accession process is that there are contexts which lead multilateral trade negotiations to successful outcomes even in the complex and multi-polar twenty-first-century economic environment. The contributions in this volume illuminate the pressing question regarding why some trade negotiations fail, some stall and others succeed.

The reorganization of supply chains using advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, and autonomous robotics, is transforming the model of supply chain management from a linear one, in which instructions flow from supplier to producer to distributor to consumer, and back, to a more integrated model in which information flows in an omnidirectional manner to the supply chain. While e-commerce is uniquely suited to many of these techniques, they also hold the promise of improving efficiency in brick-and-mortar stores. These technologies are generating enormous benefits through reducing costs, making production more responsive to consumer demand, boosting employment (employment in supply chain sectors where such technologies are most likely to be applied has grown much more rapidly than in other supply chain sectors and in the economy as a whole) and saving consumers’ time. The impact of these technologies on the length of supply chains is uncertain: they may reduce the length of supply chains by encouraging the reshoring of manufacturing production to high-income economies, thus reducing opportunities for developing countries to participate in GVCs, or they may strengthen GVCs by reducing coordination and matching costs.

Research published by the European Parliament in 2017 claimed that Blockchain could “change our lives” (Boucher, 2017). What the various blockchain applications that are being developed in areas as diverse as trade finance, trade facilitation, trade in services, intellectual property and government procurement show is that Blockchain has the potential to impact both the traders and the government agencies involved in international trade significantly. Opportunities are multifaceted, but will only be realized if several key challenges are addressed.

The Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) has been actively opening its markets since the early 1990s, making its first bilateral trade agreement with Chile effective from 3 April 2004. It has since arranged such agreements with 52 countries that now cover more than 77 per cent of the world’s GDP. Given the little progress made in multilateral negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), much of the progress in market liberalization has taken the form of regional trade agreements (RTAs). It has been through an extensive network of these arrangements, with partners such as the EU, the US and the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China), that the Korean Government has been pursuing sustained growth.

Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial a été rédigé sous la supervision de Kipkorir Aly Aza Rana, Directeur général adjoint. Patrick Low, Directeur de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques a dirigé l’équipe chargée de la rédaction. Ses principaux auteurs sont Bijit Bora, Zdenek Drabek, K. Michael Finger, Marion Jansen, Alexander Keck, Patrick Low, Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, Roberta Piermartini et Robert Teh. Barbara d’Andrea, de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques, est coauteur de la section IB. Jeffrey Gertler, de la Division des affaires juridiques, a contribué à la rédaction de la section IB. Mukela uanga, de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques, a fourni une précieuse assistance à certains des auteurs principaux. Les données sur le commerce et les informations sur les droits de douane ont été fournies par les statisticiens de la Division de la recherche économique et des statistiques, dont les travaux ont été coordonnés par Guy Karsenty, Julia de Verteuil, Andreas Maurer et Jürgen Richtering.

En 2005, l’économie mondiale a progressé de 3,3 pour cent, taux plus faible qu’en 2004 mais quand même légèrement supérieur à la moyenne de la décennie. Dans la plupart des régions, la croissance économique est restée vigoureuse, bien qu’elle ait été moins forte que l’année précédente. Seule l’Europe a encore enregistré une faible croissance du PIB – inférieure de plus de moitié au taux observé en Amérique du Nord. Au Japon, en revanche, l’activité économique s’est raffermie. Compte tenu du ralentissement de la croissance économique mondiale en 2005 et de l’évolution du marché pétrolier, la croissance du commerce des marchandises – comme celle du PIB – s’est ralentie en termes réels, tout en restant supérieure à la moyenne des dix dernières années.

La présente section montre l’importance du commerce des services dans l’économie mondiale en s’appuyant sur un ensemble de données expérimental établi par l’OMC, appelé TISMOS (Trade in Services by Modes of Supply – Données sur le commerce des services par mode de fourniture). Cet ensemble de données rend compte des services fournis selon les quatre modes définis dans l’Accord général sur le commerce des services (AGCS) de l’OMC; les statistiques traditionnelles sur le commerce des services ne portent que sur trois des quatre modes de fourniture de l’AGCS. La présente section traite aussi de la participation des économies en développement, y compris les pays les moins avancés (PMA), de l’importance des micro, petites et moyennes entreprises (MPME) et du rôle des femmes dans le commerce des services. Enfin, elle étudie la part de valeur ajoutée des services dans les chaînes de valeur mondiales.