Economic research and trade policy analysis
Le commerce des services en chiffres
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.
Acknowledgements
The World Trade Report 2010 was prepared under the general direction of the Deputy Director-General Alejandro Jara and supervised by Patrick Low, Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division. The principal authors of the Report were Marc Bacchetta, Cosimo Beverelli, John Hancock, Alexander Keck, Gaurav Nayyar, Coleman Nee, Roberta Piermartini, Nadia Rocha, Michele Ruta, Robert Teh and Alan Yanovich. Other written contributions were provided by Marc Auboin, Mireille Cossy and James Windon. Trade statistics information was provided by the Statistics Group of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, coordinated by Hubert Escaith, Julia de Verteuil, Andreas Maurer and Jurgen Richtering.
Acknowledgements
The World Trade Report 2008 was prepared under the general direction of Deputy Director-General Alejandro Jara. Patrick Low, Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, led the team responsible for writing the Report. The principal authors of the Report were Marc Bacchetta, Chad Bown, K. Michael Finger, Marion Jansen, Alexander Keck, Roberta Piermartini, Michele Ruta and Robert Teh. Trade statistics information was provided by the Statistics Group of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, coordinated by Hubert Escaith, Julia de Verteuil, Andreas Maurer and Jürgen Richtering.
Introduction
The last two decades have seen an explosion of regional trade agreements, some of them involving several countries, many of them bilateral. Some have been local, within regions, others have stretched across regions. Some have involved deep integration, going beyond the WTO, while others have been quite light and superficial. All in all, some 350 of these agreements exist.
Economic resilience: Dynamics of informality
Informality is associated with increased vulnerability of countries to economic shocks. At the same time, informality raises the likelihood of being affected by (external) shocks. The combination of these two tendencies can create a vicious circle, weakening the long-term performance of a country, lowering the potential benefi ts it can derive from trade and reducing economic well-being. This chapter discusses how informal employment evolves over the cycle – differentiating among different segments of informal labour markets – and the consequences for economic resilience to shocks. It presents evidence of the extent to which informal economies increase volatility in growth performance and the frequency of extreme economic events. Moreover, the chapter discusses the particular interaction between international capital fl ows and labour market informality in worsening a country’s vulnerability to shocks. It emphasizes the potentially adverse effects of offi cial development aid and international investment by multinationals within global production networks.
Aspects du commerce et des politiques commerciales
Considéré comme un moyen de réduire la dépendance des pays en développement vis-à-vis des marchés des pays développés et de diversifier les exportations du Sud au-delà des seuls produits primaires, le commerce Sud-Sud est depuis longtemps encouragé. Pour l’essentiel, les mécanismes mis en place en vue de favoriser la coopération entre pays en développement ont pris la forme d’arrangements sous-régionaux ou régionaux de nature souvent préférentielle. Durant les années 50 et 60, la promotion du commerce Sud-Sud s’est inscrite bien souvent dans un ensemble de mesures ancré dans une stratégie qui visait à substituer aux importations des productions nationales protégées par des obstacles au commerce élevés. Le commerce Sud-Sud a progressé par à-coups, car les économies en développement alternaient alors les phases d’expansion et de repli. En dépit des efforts déployés pour promouvoir et diversifier le commerce Sud-Sud, les flux de produits primaires sont restés prédominants dans la plupart de ces régions, et ce commerce Sud-Sud ne représentait que 6,5 pour cent du commerce mondial en 1990.
Energy-related rules in Accession Protocols: Where are they?
Energy issues have not been systematically discussed by WTO members in the multilateral trading system. This is owing to the fact that there is no rule on energy per se in WTO agreements. Yet all tradable energy goods and services are covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the General Agreement on Trade in Services respectively. With energy security and climate change high on the global agenda, there is increasing interest in how to deal with energy-related issues during WTO accession negotiations, particularly given that several energy-producing countries, energy-transit countries and energy-consuming countries are currently in accession negotiations. Following the examples of earlier accessions, the ongoing negotiation dossiers would need to negotiate energy-related specific obligations in their terms of accession. This chapter identifies five key themes relating to energy in the WTO Accession Protocols of the Article XII members and explains the rationale of how these topics relate to trade in energy based on the existing WTO rules. Further, it categorizes similar energy patterns and trends for Article XII members. Finally, the chapter draws lessons for future WTO rule-making by arguing that these ‘updated’ rules on energy, found in Article XII members’ Accession Protocols, will have the potential to guide the envisaged regular work of the WTO on future rule-making on trade in energy, thereby contributing to international energy cooperation in the context of the rules-based multilateral trading system.
Acknowledgements
This publication was prepared by Arti Gobind Daswani, Roy Santana and János Volkai of the WTO Secretariat with the support of WTO Deputy Director-General Karl Brauner, Valerie Hughes (former Director of the WTO’s Legal Affairs Division), Suja Rishikesh Mavroidis (Director of the WTO Market Access Division) and John Adank (Director of the Legal Affairs Division). Special acknowledgment is owed to William Castro, of the WTO’s Young Professionals Programme, for his contributions to the processing of the data and preparation of the one-page case summaries, to WTO staff members Jesse Kreier and Olga Falgueras Alamo, from the Rules Division, for their contribution to the compilation of relevant documents and to Jesse Nicol, from the Appellate Body Secretariat, for his comments. The authors are also grateful to Laoise Ní Bhriain, Maria Bressi and Bryson Strupp, from the Archives Section of the WTO Information Management Services, for their active collaboration in checking the archives and identifying relevant information, and to Tan Albayrak, intern at the Legal Affairs Division, for assisting in the final editing of the onepage case summaries.
Introduction
Le formidable dynamisme de l’économie mondiale depuis un quart de siècle s’est accompagné de profonds bouleversements, ce qui n’est guère surprenant dans la mesure où les deux phénomènes sont étroitement liés. L’économie mondiale ne prospère que si la productivité augmente ; et la productivité n’augmente que si l’économie mondiale produit plus et mieux, de manière plus efficiente. Les préoccupations que la mondialisation suscite actuellement dans de nombreux pays peuvent être attribuées, du moins en partie, aux défis de l’ajustement économique liés à la croissance continue de la productivité dans l’économie mondiale. Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2017 s’intéresse à deux des moteurs les plus puissants du progrès économique mondial aujourd’hui, la technologie et le commerce, et examine comment ils influent sur les marchés du travail. Il analyse l’évolution des défis de l’ajustement au nouveau marché du travail et la manière dont les économies s’adaptent. Il examine en particulier les points communs et les différences dans la façon dont la technologie, d’une part, et le commerce, d’autre part, influencent le comportement du marché du travail.
Instituciones y asuntos de política
En esta sección se explica cómo funcionan en la práctica la normalización y la evaluación de la conformidad y se describen las características pertinentes de las infraestructuras de normalización y de evaluación de la conformidad en distintas regiones del mundo. Primero se hace un análisis del proceso de normalización y se estudia dónde se lleva a cabo la normalización, cómo está organizada y quiénes participan en el proceso. La subsección 2 trata de la organización de la evaluación de la conformidad en los planos internacional, regional y nacional y describe las formas en que los requisitos de evaluación de la conformidad pueden afectar al comercio.
Trade digitalization and financing: New hope for MSMES?
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the SME Finance Forum and the World Bank Group estimate the entire MSME finance gap to be close to US$ 5 trillion, hindering the ability of MSMEs to grow. This gap, however, is not due to a lack of available funds. A 2019 report by the International Trade Centre (ITC) indicated that “in 2018 global funds held US$ 1 trillion of cash-in-hand equity capital that was seeking investment opportunities”. Of particular concern is the trade finance gap, which disproportionately affects MSMEs. Despite the low-risk nature of short-term trade finance, the trade finance gap alone is estimated at upwards of US$ 1.5 trillion. The rejection rate of MSME proposals for trade finance is 45 per cent. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), “among MSMEs initially rejected that sought alternative financing, 47 per cent were unable to find anything appropriate”; this does not include those firms that do not even apply for financing in the first place.
Standards in the multilateral trading system
This Section focuses on standards-related WTO legal texts and relevant jurisprudence. The Section begins with a discussion of the texts themselves. This is followed by a detailed discussion of some of the key concepts relevant to standards in the TBT and the SPS Agreements as well as GATT 1994. The Agreements are then placed in the context of the economic discussion presented in the previous Sections and reference is also made to accumulated standards-related jurisprudence. Since the focus of the Report is on product standards, only WTO legal texts and jurisprudence bearing on “goods” will be discussed. It is important to note though that the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) also contains standards-related provisions on services, specifically, in Article VI paras. 4 and 5.
Remerciements
Mes sincères remerciements vont à ma collègue Kenza Le Mentec pour ses précieux conseils. Mme Le Mentec m’a initiée au sujet et elle a apporté de précieuses contributions, en particulier pour les sections techniques décrivant la technologie et pour la section sur la facilitation des échanges. Cette publication n’aurait pas été possible sans son soutien.
Avant-propos du Directeur Général
Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial de cette année examine le rôle du commerce dans un monde caractérisé, depuis plusieurs décennies, par l’interdépendance croissante des pays. Cette interdépendance, appelée aujourd’hui mondialisation, est un phénomène complexe aux multiples facettes, qui implique une forte interaction politique, sociale et économique aux niveaux national et international. Rares sont ceux qui contesteraient les avantages apportés par la mondialisation, qui assure une plus grande prospérité à des centaines de millions de personnes et une plus grande stabilité entre les pays. Pourtant, beaucoup de par le monde n’ont pas ou presque pas profité de ces avantages. La gestion de la mondialisation impose aux gouvernements nationaux des défis colossaux et, pour réussir à diffuser plus largement la prospérité, il faudra une forte détermination commune.
Conclusion
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 WTO and the global economy: Contemporary challenges and possible responses
The high economic growth rates that have been achieved by many countries in Asia have led to a contemporary world economy that is multipolar. This has had repercussions for the WTO, as well as for other multilateral organisations. The deadlock in the WTO’s Doha Round has led the United States and the European Union increasingly to turn their attention towards the negotiation of preferential trade agreements, including so-called ‘mega-regional’ partnerships. This chapter discusses some of the implications for – and possible responses by – the economies that have the greatest stake in a well-functioning multilateral trading system. These economies may find themselves caught in the midst of disagreements between the major trading nations, with few prospects of participating in the mega-regionals. The chapter argues that these economies – including those that have acceded to the WTO since its creation – need to take a more proactive leadership role in the WTO to enhance the transparency of what is done in the ‘megaregionals’ and to facilitate the pursuit of rule-making initiatives in the WTO on a plurilateral basis.
Supply chain connectivity and trade in Asia
The term logistics is an ancient one. Historically, the military has been lauded as the key underpinning example for good logistics practices, given their emphasis on good movement practices and operational excellence. Good logistics practice can be taken to denote the set of activities undertaken to ensure the smooth passage of goods and services from one location to another, relying on supply liaison officers to provide the necessary connection between stakeholders in a convoy. Indeed, it is the very adept use of logistics (both hard and soft) that has provided certain military forces with superior competitive advantage, the result of which is well documented in history.
Foreward
Global value chains (GVCs) have been a feature of the international economic architecture for many years, but scholarly interest in the phenomenon is more recent. Today that interest is intense, emanating from an array of academic disciplines as well as from the policy world. This volume, jointly produced by the Fung Global Institute and the World Trade Organization, is an attempt to capture the core features and themes of the exploding literature on GVCs. Our review of the literature demonstrates the eclectic nature of existing work on GVCs, which in turn is a reflection of the complex character of these international production arrangements. Apart from seeking to capture the different strands of the literature, it is our hope that the volume may contribute to a deeper mutual understanding among different disciplinary perspectives, including economic, political economy, business and management, development, social, and public policy analyses.
Trade policy and natural resources
This section looks at the ways government policy responds to the unique features of natural resources. It examines how the unequal distribution of natural resources give importing and exporting countries incentives to use restrictive trade and domestic measures to “capture” monopoly rents. It analyzes how governments can use trade restrictions and domestic measures to strengthen property rights or reduce the exploitation of the natural resource. Where the consumption or extraction of a natural resource affects the environment, it considers the steps governments could take to make producers and consumers take account of the social costs of their activities. However, the use of trade and domestic policies will have consequences for trade partners through changes to their terms of trade. In some instances, the availability of large resource rents may make government policies hostage to vested interests involved in the extraction and trade of natural resources. Finally, this section will consider how regional trade cooperation can assist in mitigating or resolving these potential frictions in natural resources.
Domestic regulation: What are the costs and benefits for international trade in services?
Services have been considered non-tradable and therefore outside the scope of trade policy-making until quite recently. A logical consequence is that explicit policy barriers to cross-border trade in services are rare. What segments markets for tradable services is therefore largely in the realm of domestic regulation. Both the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and a number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) aim at developing disciplines on domestic regulation. GATS Article VI states that disciplines on qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements shall be established to ensure that regulation is not more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service. Such disciplines are, however, yet to be established, but a reference paper on pro-competitive domestic regulation in telecommunications has been included in a number of World Trade Organization (WTO) members’ GATS schedules of commitments, and some RTAs have quite detailed disciplines on domestic regulation in this sector.
Introduction
No doubt, the world looks a little different today than it did at the end of 2019 when we first published the Periodic Table of DLT in Trade. A natural year’s worth of progression has been both accelerated and in some areas stunted by the forces of the COVID-19 pandemic, the widespread and long-lasting implications of which still remain unknown.
Introducción
Las subvenciones son uno de los numerosos instrumentos de política general sujetos a normas en el sistema multilateral de comercio, pero plantean cuestiones más complejas para quienes adoptan las políticas que otros muchos instrumentos sometidos a las normas de la OMC o del GATT. Uno de los motivos de ello es que las subvenciones se pueden definir de diferentes maneras. Otro es que se utilizan para conseguir objetivos muy variados. Incluso cuando no van dirigidas al comercio, pueden influir en los flujos comerciales. El presente Informe se centra esencialmente en las subvenciones que conceden una ventaja a determinados productores nacionales, por lo que afectan al comercio. La difícil tarea de determinar qué tipos de subvención plantean problemas desde el punto de vista del sistema comercial, y qué cabe hacer al respecto, ocupa un importante lugar en el programa de trabajo del sistema del GATT y la OMC.
A podium perspective: Experiences and challenges of chairing a working party
What is the perspective from the podium? what are the challenges that face the chairperson of an accession working party? The role of a chairperson of an accession working party is tough and challenging, and the functions of a chairperson can only be successfully exercised if he or she has the trust and confidence of parties involved. This role is best understood as that of a referee, assisted by the Secretariat. The accession of the Russian Federation demonstrated that, ‘the real work in WTO accession negotiations is done “beyond the gavel”. If the chair could only work with the gavel, the accession process would get nowhere.’ Critical to any progress in the complexity of accession negotiations is political will and the ability to compromise, as geopolitics may add a thick layer of complexity to the process. The reality of accession negotiations is that all participants have to be accommodated.
The WTO- Plus Obligations: Dual Class or a Strengthened System?
Obligations in accession protocols that go beyond the multilateral trade agreements are commonly referred to as ‘WTO-plus’ obligations. This chapter reviews the so-called WTO-plus obligations and argues that even though they are perceived to expand the existing obligations under multilateral trade agreements, they in fact do not create two classes of membership within the World Trade Organization (WTO). First, all accession processes are conducted on a case-by-case basis, and thus result in different obligations for each acceding government. Second, the WTO legal system is evolving continuously; therefore, to adopt new rules and advance the legal system, obligations cannot remain the same as in previous accessions. Third, non-discrimination remains one of the fundamental principles of the multilateral trading system. Accessions to WTO follow this principle and hence WTO-plus obligations have been and will continue to be set on a non-discriminatory basis. At the same time, WTO-plus obligations help upgrade the rules-based multilateral trading system. They fill gaps in the WTO rules on anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard regimes, and they advance WTO rules by promoting plurilateral agreements.
Supply chains and offshoring
The shuffle of jobs offshore (or back onshore) has caught the attention and concerns of policy makers. The structural shifts in industrial structures are creating new winners and losers. Unskilled labour-intensive parts of the manufacturing production process have been increasingly offshored by advanced country firms to relatively unskilled labourabundant developing economies. This “offshoring” phenomenon is expected to reduce jobs for low- and semi-skilled workers in advanced economies while increasing them in developing economies. At the same time, resulting productivity increases in advanced economies can raise the demand for native workers – at least in complementary tasks. The empirical literature suggests that fears of job-losses due to offshoring in advanced economies are often exaggerated – restricted largely to the short-run. Policy makers can address these concerns through strengthening social safety nets in the short run and instituting skills-upgrading programmes to create a more flexible labour force in the long run. Greater challenges lie ahead for these policy makers, with an increasing number of services jobs being offshored from developed to developing economies. Even in developing economies, services offshoring can worsen inequality by raising skill premiums, thereby making investment in education equally crucial there. Looking ahead, given increasing wages in certain developing economies, increasing transport costs, new technologies and concerns about separating R&D from manufacturing activities, there is a possibility of a large number of manufacturing and services tasks returning to advanced economies.
Industry Wages and Tariffs ofthe Rest of the World
There is widespread evidence that countries use trade policy to protect their workers. Sector-level tariffs typically correlate positively with sector wages and employment. This chapter examines the mirror question of how tariffs of other countries of the world affect industry wages at home. To answer this question, we rely on an industry-level analysis of wages in a sample of developing and developed countries spanning from 1976 to 2004. The effect of trade policy is identified through differential exposure of trade policy changes abroad for workers in different industries.
Las normas en el sistema multilateral de comercio
La presente sección se ocupa de los textos jurídicos y la jurisprudencia pertinente de la OMC relativos a las normas. En ella se examinan en primer lugar los propios textos, para analizar después detalladamente algunos de los conceptos fundamentales pertinentes a las normas recogidos tanto en los Acuerdos OTC y MSF como en el GATT de 1994. Seguidamente se sitúan los Acuerdos en el contexto del análisis económico expuesto en las secciones anteriores y se hace también referencia a la jurisprudencia acumulada en relación con las normas. Dado que el presente informe se centra en las normas de productos, sólo se analizarán los textos jurídicos y la jurisprudencia de la OMC relativas a las “mercancías”. No obstante, es importante señalar que el Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios (AGCS) contiene también disposiciones relativas a las normas en la esfera de los servicios, especialmente en los párrafos 4 y 5 de su artículo VI.
Openness to trade and informality
Globalization and the opening of markets in developing economies to trade is believed to have affected informal employment in these countries. This chapter summarizes the theoretical arguments for such a link and presents the relevant empirical evidence. In particular, it asks the questions: What roles do trade reforms and trade expansion play in explaining changes in the share of informal employment? How does trade opening affect the relative wage of informal, compared to formal, workers? While the long-term allocative effects of trade opening have been extensively studied by trade economists since at least the eighteenth century, the short- and medium-term impact of trade reforms on the composition of employment, the wage structure and unemployment only started to attract the attention of researchers in the early 1990s (Agénor, 1995). This chapter contains two parts. First, a summary of theoretical approaches concerning the impact of trade on informality is provided. Second, empirical studies aimed at validating different theoretical hypotheses are discussed.
Évolution du marché du travail
La présente section vise à mettre en perspective la discussion sur les effets du commerce et de la technologie sur le marché du travail. L’analyse ciblée de ces effets peut donner, à tort, l’impression que le commerce et/ou la technologie sont les principaux déterminants de l’emploi et des salaires. Toutefois, comme on le verra dans cette section, les niveaux d’emploi ou de chômage et le niveau des salaires sont largement déterminés par la façon dont fonctionne le marché du travail. Autrement dit, les effets de la technologie et du commerce sur le comportement du marché du travail dépendent, dans une large mesure, des conditions institutionnelles du marché du travail, des changements économiques concomitants et de la diversification des possibilités d’emploi lorsque des chocs se produisent.
Is Tunisian Trade Policy Pro-poor?
Trade liberalization policies affect the domestic economy through their impact on prices of goods and services. Consequently, these policies also can affect average productivity and lead to industrial restructuring. The main goal of this research is to estimate the distributional effects of trade policy at the micro level using household survey data, and to determine whether trade liberalization affected different groups of poor people differently. To our knowledge this question has not yet been addressed for Tunisia.
The ITA and innovation
The general-purpose nature of information technology (IT) means that its widespread use in other economic sectors helps induce organizational and technological innovation throughout the economy. Innovation in IT itself has a magnified effect on economic productivity.
Le commerce à l’heure de la mondialisation
L’intégration économique progresse à un rythme sans précédent dans le monde entier. La mondialisation a eu des retombées très bénéfiques pour de nombreux pays et de nombreuses populations. Mais elle fait aussi beaucoup de perdants, et l’opposition à la poursuite du processus va croissant, pour de multiples raisons. Le commerce n’est qu’un aspect de la mondialisation, et ses liens avec les forces économiques, politiques et technologiques en général sont multiples et complexes. Certains des arguments contre l’ouverture commerciale sont alimentés par des facteurs très divers – y compris la peur générale du changement – qui n’ont pas grand-chose à voir avec la poursuite de l’ouverture. Les gouvernements qui cèdent aux pressions contre le commerce exercées par les adversaires de la mondialisation risquent de faire de mauvais choix politiques. Le scepticisme à l’égard du commerce est à l’évidence un sujet de préoccupation, surtout à un moment où les Membres de l’OMC s’efforcent de mener à bien le Cycle de Doha. À ce moment crucial, il semble opportun de réexaminer la justification du commerce et de se demander si les arguments traditionnels en faveur du libre-échange tiennent encore.
Executive summary
The World Trade Report 2006 begins with a short summary of salient trends in international trade based on the Secretariat’s earlier Report issued in April. We also provide brief analytical commentaries on certain topical trade issues, which this year cover recent trends in trade in textiles and clothing, an examination of the evolution of international royalty and fee payments, developments in the trade of least-developed countries, and an analysis of the effects of natural disasters and acts of terrorism on international trade flows. The core topic for analysis in WTR 2006 is subsidies. The Report explores this area of policy in terms of how subsidies are defined, what economic theory can tell us about subsidies, why governments use subsidies, the most prominent sectors in which subsidies are applied, and the role of the WTO Agreement in regulating subsidies in the context of international trade.
Executive summary
This study is the product of a collaborative effort by the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Labour Office (ILO), aimed at providing 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. It attempts to do this through a review of the academic literature, both theoretical and empirical. A huge amount of research has been undertaken on this subject and within this there are numerous excellent literature surveys. This study intends to distinguish itself from the existing surveys by focusing on the connections between trade policies, and labour and social policies.
Foreword
Trade has improved the living standards of billions of individuals, many of whom are women. Ample empirical evidence shows that trade has led to higher productivity, greater competition, lower prices, higher incomes, and improved welfare. As the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed, however, trade can be seriously disrupted. There is a risk that some of the economic gains women have reaped through trade could be reversed by the COVID-19 crisis. Cooperation is therefore essential to preserve the conditions for a fast recovery and to create those for more inclusive and sustainable trade in the future.
Pourquoi le commerce des services compte
La présente section examine le rôle que le commerce des services joue pour aider les pays à parvenir à une croissance rapide et inclusive. La section C.1 analyse et tente de quantifier dans quelle mesure le commerce des services est bénéfique pour l’économie et promeut la croissance. La section C.2 étudie le rôle que le commerce des services joue dans l’amélioration de la compétitivité des entreprises nationales non seulement dans le secteur des services mais aussi dans le secteur manufacturier. La section C.3 examine de quelle façon le commerce des services promeut l’inclusion dans un certain nombre de domaines comme les compétences, l’égalité hommes-femmes et la localisation de l’activité économique. La section C.4 sert de conclusion.
Avant-propos du Directeur général
Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2010 traite du commerce des ressources naturelles. Ce sujet revêt une importance croissante dans les relations commerciales internationales. Les ressources naturelles sont en effet à l’origine d’une grande partie de l’activité économique; elles jouent un rôle essentiel dans de nombreuses économies et leur part dans le commerce mondial va en augmentant. Plusieurs caractéristiques qui leur sont propres expliquent pourquoi elles occupent une place particulière dans l’analyse économique et dans l’analyse de l’économie politique et des politiques publiques.
Résumé analytique
La première section du Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2004 examine l’évolution récente de la structure, de la valeur et du volume des échanges internationaux de biens et services, ainsi que les perspectives du commerce pour 2004. Elle propose également une analyse des préférences non réciproques, du mouvement international des personnes fournissant des services et des indications géographiques. La seconde section du rapport porte sur la question de la cohérence des politiques suivies, et souligne qu’il importe que les mesures prises à l’échelle nationale soient complémentaires pour que la libéralisation économique bénéficie davantage à la société. Elle s’articule autour de quatre volets importants de la gestion économique, à savoir: i) les politiques macro-économiques, ii) l’état des infrastructures et des services d’infrastructure, notamment dans des domaines étroitement liés aux performances commerciales (transports, télécommunications, services financiers et services aux entreprises), iii) la structure des marchés, et en particulier le degré de concurrence et l’existence d’externalités, et iv) la qualité des institutions. Enfin, la dernière partie de la seconde section du rapport est consacrée aux dimensions internationales de la cohérence. Elle montre comment la coopération internationale peut favoriser la cohérence des politiques formulées à l’échelle nationale, dans le domaine commercial surtout.
Supply chains and business models
While the term “business model” might seem ubiquitous today, its use only arose in the 1990s with the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution. Since then, the business model literature has advanced definitions and conceptualisations that describe, and prescribe, a range of supply chain architectures. In the age of network competition, the business model concept now rests upon the focal unit of the supply chain and no longer upon the individual firm. Theory has emerged to aid the practitioner in designing supply chains and in understanding the latest business models. While not as directly relevant, policy makers also stand to gain from this literature in understanding the considerations that businesses take into account for their business design decisions.
El comercio de servicios en cifras
En esta sección se expone la importancia del comercio de servicios en la economía mundial utilizando los datos sobre el comercio de servicios por modos de suministro (TISMOS), una base de datos experimental desarrollada por la OMC. Esta base de datos presenta los servicios prestados a través de los cuatro modos de suministro clasificados en el Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios (AGCS) de la OMC; las estadísticas tradicionales sobre el comercio de servicios solo abarcan tres de los modos de suministro del AGCS. En la sección también se examina la participación de las economías en desarrollo, incluidas las de los países menos adelantados (PMA), la importancia de las microempresas y las pequeñas y medianas empresas (MIPYME), y el papel de la mujer en el comercio de servicios. Por último, la presente sección explora el valor añadido por los servicios a las cadenas de valor mundiales.
Trade, value chains and labor markets in advanced economies
Trade is a major source of employment. Nevertheless, trade has recently been caught in the crossfire in discussions around the decline of manufacturing employment and the polarization of labor markets in advanced economies. In this chapter we examine what the academic literature has to say on the relationship between trade and labor markets, with a specific focus on studies with a value chain perspective. We find that trade has only modest effects on aggregate employment and is unlikely to have been a major contributor to the decline of manufacturing. However, the effects vary considerably across regions and individuals with different skill levels. This implies that policy has a central role to play in making sure that the gains from trade are shared evenly. Our findings highlight that a value chain perspective is important for assessing the impact of trade on labor markets. The emergence of value chains has strengthened linkages between sectors, magnified trade’s impact on skill demand and requires novel trade statistics. Ignoring this leads to a biased view of trade and overestimates its role in the decline of manufacturing employment.
Conclusions
Au cours des dernières décennies, les services sont devenus la pierre angulaire de l’économie mondiale et la composante la plus dynamique du commerce international. Ils sont de plus en plus faciles à échanger, en grande partie grâce au numérique. De la formation en ligne aux cabinets juridiques virtuels, la technologie pénètre tous les secteurs de services, transformant les services qui nécessitaient habituellement une proximité physique en services marchands fournis à distance. Le commerce, longtemps dominé par les échanges de marchandises, fait de plus en plus intervenir les services, un processus qui transforme l’économie mondiale.
Apéndice estadístico
La definición de recursos naturales que figura en la subsección 1 es suficiente en muchos análisis, pero se necesita una definición estadística más precisa para tratar de forma coherente los datos relativos a las corrientes comerciales, que es el tema en el que se centra la subsección 2. Cuando se examinan productos que no son objeto de comercio es necesario basarse en una concepción más amplia aún de los recursos naturales. Este apéndice facilita información detallada sobre las diferentes definiciones posibles de recursos naturales, para presentar después cuadros resumidos del comercio por países y mapas que ilustran diversos aspectos del suministro y el comercio de recursos naturales.
Situation du commerce en 2008-2009
Les signes d’une forte dégradation de l’économie mondiale sont devenus manifestes au second semestre de 2008 et dans les premiers mois de 2009, avec la contraction des flux commerciaux et la chute de la production, d’abord dans les pays développés, puis dans les pays en développement. Bien que le commerce mondial ait augmenté de 2 pour cent en volume en 2008, sa croissance s’est essoufflée au cours des six derniers mois de l’année, pour tomber à un niveau nettement inférieur au niveau de 6 pour cent enregistré en 2007. La croissance de la production mondiale mesurée par le produit intérieur brut (PIB) réel a aussi connu un ralentissement notable, tombant à 1,7 pour cent en 2008 alors qu’elle était de 3,5 pour cent l’année précédente.
Executive summary
The health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive stress test of the world trading system, delivering unprecedented shocks to global supply chains and trade relations among countries. In 2020, the value of global trade in goods and services in nominal dollar terms fell by 9.6 per cent, while global GDP fell by 3.3 per cent, in the most severe recession since World War II.
Réponses politiques pour promouvoir les avantages que les femmes peuvent tirer du commerce
Le présent chapitre porte sur les efforts des gouvernements, de la société civile, du secteur privé et des institutions multilatérales concernant le commerce et l’autonomisation économique des femmes. L’accent y est mis sur les mesures qui pourraient être les plus efficaces pour ouvrir les marchés aux femmes et renforcer leur capacité de faire du commerce. Les risques que présente le commerce pour les femmes en tant que travailleuses sont également recensés et des politiques d’atténuation sont suggérées. En conclusion, ce chapitre propose une discussion sur les efforts de la Banque mondiale et de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) concernant le commerce et l’égalité hommes-femmes.
How Post- TRIPS Negotiations Reframe the ‘Trade- Related Aspects’ of Intellectual Property after TRIPS: The Lessons of WTO Accessions
The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) established the first multilateral understanding of what constitutes a standard for ‘adequate’ and ‘effective’ protection of intellectual property rights, and established a new mechanism for monitoring and reviewing how these standards are met. The policy and legal framework defined by the TRIPS Agreement has, in the two decades since it entered into force, progressively gained acceptance as a legitimate, balanced and transparent set of standards. Since then, however, two parallel sets of negotiations have revisited the standards defined by TRIPS: the multilateral WTO accession negotiations, and bilateral and regional trade negotiations outside the WTO. In each case, TRIPS standards have been further elaborated, and timelines for their implementation altered, in a manner that produces a layering of rules upon the foundation of TRIPS. However, the institutional, legal and policy implications of these two lines of development contrast sharply. This chapter reviews the main lines of development of rules relating to intellectual property in the accession processes, and contrasts these with the parallel developments outside the WTO. It concludes with an analysis of the policy and practical lessons that can be derived from contrasting these two processes.
Notes techniques
Les Membres de l'OMC sont souvent désignés sous le nom de « pays », bien que certains ne soient pas des pays au sens habituel du terme mais, officiellement, des « territoires douaniers ». La définition des groupements géographiques ou autres, dans le présent rapport, n'implique de la part du Secrétariat aucune prise de position quant au statut d'un pays ou territoire, au tracé de ses frontières ou aux droits et obligations des Membres de l'OMC dans le cadre des Accords de l'OMC. Les couleurs, tracés de frontières, dénominations et classifications figurant dans les cartes n'impliquent, de la part de l'OMC, aucun jugement quant au statut juridique ou autre d'un territoire, ni la reconnaissance ou l'acceptation d'un tracé de frontières.
Executive summary
The World Trade Report 2009 focuses primarily on certain contingency measures available to WTO members in the import and export of goods. The legal framework for such measures is much less developed in services trade, although this is also discussed.
Constraints faced by the poor
Analysis of the role of trade in contributing to poverty reduction needs to go beyond its impact on economic growth. As discussed in the preceding chapter, economic growth will remain the key driver of poverty reduction globally, and trade will continue to be a critical driver of growth. Nevertheless, in the areas in which extreme poverty is now concentrated — South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa — with predicted growth more than 370 million people in these regions are likely to remain extremely poor in 2030, amounting to around 4.5 percent of the global population. Strikingly, 80 percent of these extreme poor will be in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The future of trade in services for developing countries
The question in this theme chapter is: what is the impact of services policy reform on the welfare of poor households? As explained below, there is a variety of channels through which services can be provided, and it is important to consider the whole portfolio of options in order to identify the ways in which poor households might be affected. Hoekman (2006) reviews the nature of services trade liberalisation and its scope to generate welfare gains.
Conclusions
Economic progress involves economic disruption, and there has always been an inherent and unavoidable trade-off between the benefits of growth, on the one hand, and the cost of adjustment, on the other. Today is no exception. The expansion of the global economy – spurred by technological advances and market opening – is enhancing the welfare and improving the living conditions of billions of people around the world. But it is also resulting in economic change, displacement and disruption – creating enormous pressure for individuals and societies to adjust and adapt if they are to keep up with, and share in the benefits of, economic progress.
Integrating small and medium-sized enterprises into global trade flows: The case of China
In China, the term “small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” refers to “different forms of enterprises under different ownerships that are established within the territory of the People’s Republic of China that meet the social needs and create more job opportunities, and comply with the industrial policies of the State”. This definition is rather more complex than that in other countries, where the definition of SMEs tends to be based purely on their size. It is nevertheless the case that, in China also, SMEs tend to be enterprises which have fewer employers, lower sales volume and lower gross assets. Most Chinese enterprises are SMEs. Indeed, they account for more than 98 per cent of industry and contribute to 60 per cent of China’s GDP, 75 per cent of its industrial value-added output and 50 per cent of its revenue (as of June, 2012). Chinese SMEs also provide for 75 per cent of China’s urban employment opportunities and absorb more than 50 per cent of the workers laid off from the state-owned enterprises. They employ more than 70 per cent of the new entrants to the labour market (Jianjun, 2006). Hence, Chinese SMEs play an important role in China’s economic development, due to their contribution to GDP and the employment they create, as well as their vigorous creative ability.
La chaîne de blocs peut-elle révolutionner le commerce international ?
Les gros titres annonçant que la chaîne de blocs peut révolutionner différents domaines du commerce international, du financement du commerce aux procédures douanières, en passant par la propriété intellectuelle, sont légion. Le caractère transparent, décentralisé et immuable de la chaîne de blocs a éveillé l’intérêt des acteurs privés – et des gouvernements – qui veulent explorer le potentiel de cette technologie afin d’améliorer l’efficacité des processus commerciaux, et une multitude de preuves de concept et de projets pilotes utilisant la chaîne de blocs ont été menés dans quasiment tous les domaines du commerce international.
Evolution du commerce et des politiques commerciales
La croissance de la production et du commerce dans le monde a connu au second semestre de 2003 une vive accélération qui s’est traduite par une hausse moyenne de 2,5 pour cent du PIB mondial et de 4,5 pour cent des exportations de marchandises. Il s’agit d’une amélioration plus forte que prévu par rapport à l’année précédente, même si la croissance du commerce est restée inférieure à la moyenne enregistrée durant les années 90. Ces résultats annuels ont subi l’influence défavorable d’une combinaison de facteurs inhabituels et temporaires et de faiblesses structurelles à plus long terme dans un certain nombre de grandes puissances économiques (en particulier l’état du système bancaire au Japon et les marchés du travail en Europe occidentale). L’un de ces facteurs temporaires a été l’apparition du Syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère (SRAS) en Asie de l’Est. Bien que l’épidémie de SRAS soit restée limitée par rapport à celles du paludisme et du SIDA, elle a eu des conséquences dramatiques à court terme sur le mouvement des personnes et le secteur touristique dans la région. La montée des tensions ayant abouti au conflit militaire en Iraq a fait reculer la confiance des consommateurs et des entreprises dans de nombreuses régions au premier trimestre. Dans les pays de l’OCDE, l’indicateur précurseur composite (entreprises) est descendu à son plus bas niveau en mars 2003, avant d’entamer une remontée en mai. Les grandes places boursières ont suivi la tendance avec une baisse accentuée jusqu’en mars, suivie d’une reprise et d’une expansion marquée jusqu’à la fin de l’année.
Avant-propos du Directeur général de l’OMC
Les services sont souvent largement négligés dans les discussions sur le commerce mondial ; pourtant, ils représentent la majeure partie des échanges dans de nombreuses économies développées et progressent rapidement dans bon nombre de pays en développement également. Cela s’explique peutêtre par le fait que les services sont moins tangibles et que les questions sur le commerce des services sont souvent plus complexes. Le présent rapport vise donc à démystifier le commerce des services. Son objectif est d’apporter un nouvel éclairage sur cette composante essentielle du commerce mondial, de dresser un état détaillé de la situation actuelle en la matière et d’examiner comment le commerce des services pourrait évoluer dans les années à venir, sous l’effet en particulier des nouvelles technologies qui rendent certains services plus facilement échangeables.
The landscape of regional trade agreements and WTO surveillance
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become so prominent in recent years that they permeate much of the discourse on international trade. The current scale of RTA proliferation is unprecedented both in quantitative and qualitative terms. A bewildering range of geographical configurations and varying policy content characterize the new agreements. This trend is likely to continue. The embrace of RTAs by virtually every trading nation carries systemic implications for the multilateral trading system, most notably through increased discrimination and complexity in trade relations and by undermining the transparency and predictability of trade relations.
Global value chain-oriented industrial policy: The role of emerging economies
In the past two decades, profound changes in the structure of the global economy have reshaped global production and trade and altered the organization of industries and national economies. The geographic fragmentation of industries, where value is added in multiple countries before products make their way to consumers, has been accompanied by vast improvements in the functional integration of these far-flung activities, creating what have come to be known as global value chains, or GVCs. As supply chains become global in scope, more intermediate goods are traded across borders, and more imported parts and components are embodied in exports (Feenstra, 1998). In 2009, world exports of intermediate goods exceeded the combined export values of final and capital goods for the first time, representing 51 per cent of non-fuel merchandise exports (WTO and IDE-JETRO, 2011). Governments and international organizations are taking notice of the effects of GVCs on global trade and development (OECD, 2011; WTO and IDE-JETRO, 2011; UNCTAD, 2013; World Economic Forum, 2013).
Agradecimientos y Descargo de responsabilidad
El Informe sobre el comercio mundial 2019 ha sido elaborado bajo la responsabilidad general de Xiaozhun Yi, Director General Adjunto de la OMC, y Robert Koopman, Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística. El informe de este año ha sido coordinado por Emmanuelle Ganne y Stela Rubínová (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística) y por Antonia Carzaniga (División de Comercio de Servicios e Inversión). Los principales autores del Informe son Barbara d’Andrea, Andreas Maurer, Roberta Piermartini y Robert Teh (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística), y Antonia Carzaniga. Otros autores son Marc Auboin, Eddy Bekkers, John Hancock, Kathryn Lundquist, José-Antonio Monteiro, Coleman Nee, Victor Stolzenburg, Ankai Xu y Qing Ye (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística); Pamela Apaza, Markus Jelitto, Joscelyn Magdeleine, Juan Marchetti, Martin Roy y Lee Tuthill (División de Comercio de Servicios e Inversión); y Rainer Lanz (División de Desarrollo).
Commerce des marchandises et des services en valeur (nominale) en 2009
La valeur en dollars du commerce mondial des marchandises a diminué de 23 pour cent en 2009, pour s’établir à 12 100 milliards de dollars EU, contre 16 100 milliards en 2008 (voir le tableau 1 de l’Appendice). Cette baisse a été due en partie à la diminution du volume des échanges, le reste s’expliquant principalement par la baisse des prix des produits de base, en particulier le pétrole, en 2009. Après avoir atteint des niveaux record en 2008, les prix mondiaux du pétrole brut ont baissé de 37 pour cent en 2009, passant de 95 dollars EU à 60 dollars EU le baril en moyenne. De ce fait, l’évolution du commerce en valeur nominale dans certains pays et régions peut être très différente de son évolution en volume, en particulier dans le cas des exportateurs de pétrole et des importateurs de pétrole.
Why services trade matters
This section examines the role of trade in services in helping countries to achieve rapid and inclusive growth. Section C.1 discusses and attempts to quantify how services trade benefits the economy and promotes growth. Section C.2 discusses the role trade in services plays in enhancing domestic firms’ competitiveness, not only in the services sector, but also in manufacturing. Section C.3 considers how services trade promotes inclusiveness in a number of areas, such as skills, gender and location of economic activity. Section C.4 concludes.
Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms
This is an accessible guide to the vocabulary used in trade negotiations. It explains about 2,500 terms and concepts in simple language. Its main emphasis is on the multilateral trading system represented by the agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition it covers many of the trade-related activities, outcomes and terms used in other international organizations, such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the OECD. The last five years have seen a rapid spread in the formation of freetrade areas in all parts of the world. This dictionary allocates generous space to the vocabulary associated with such agreements. It offers clear explanations, for example, of the concepts used in the administration of preferential rules of origin. Additional areas covered include emerging trade issues and issues based particularly on developing-country concerns.
Prefacio del director general
En los últimos meses el comercio ha sufrido su mayor contracción desde el decenio de 1930, como consecuencia del considerable deterioro económico global provocado, en primer lugar, por el colapso de importantes instituciones financieras. El crecimiento del comercio se expresará este año en cifras fuertemente negativas, y es poco probable que antes de 2010 vuelva a registrarse un crecimiento sostenido. Esta adversidad está poniendo a prueba severamente la imaginación política de los gobiernos en todo el planeta y, en un mundo interdependiente como el de hoy, su voluntad de hacer causa común en la tarea de afrontar desafíos que son de todos. Hoy como nunca son imprescindibles la cooperación internacional efectiva y los mercados abiertos.
Services market opening: Salience, results and meaning
This chapter is structured around three questions. What advances have been made on services market opening? what have been the specific market access commitments of least-developed countries (LDCs)? And what is the progress made with domestic regulation disciplines? This chapter examines the extent to which the services-specific commitments and domestic regulatory disciplines of Article XII members differ from those undertaken by original WTO members at similar levels of development. Although no single indicator exists that can be used to make this comparison, given the textual nature of specific commitments, as opposed to the numerical properties of tariffs, several other possible parameters exist, which could be used alone or in combination to assess such departures. The evidence and patterns in Article XII members’ services market access commitments and regulatory state-of-play and advances are examined. The trends and patterns in the depth and sectoral coverage of commitments are identified. The results from accession negotiations on the rules are reviewed with particular focus on how they compare to the envisaged disciplines on domestic regulation under the General Agreement on Trade in Services Article VI:4. Finally, the performance of Article XII LDC members in their WTO accession services negotiations is reviewed. Overall, the evidence indicates that Article XII members’ services bindings go further than those of original WTO members.
Conclusión
El mundo, tal como lo conocemos, ha sido definido por las innovaciones tecnológicas. Muchas personas han acogido la aparición de una nueva tecnología, la cadena de bloques (una tecnología de registro distribuido), a la que consideran el próximo gran factor de cambio, con entusiasmo y optimismo. La cadena de bloques, que permite compartir registros digitales y datos de manera segura, transparente e inalterable sin necesidad de depender de un único tercero de confianza, promete avances interesantes. Esta tecnología podría permitir a los particulares y a las empresas de todo el mundo efectuar transacciones de manera más eficiente, más barata y más rápida, preservando al mismo tiempo un elevado nivel de seguridad. Al simplificar y digitalizar procesos en los que participan múltiples partes interesadas y que hasta ahora dependían en gran medida del papel, reduciendo así los costes de procesamiento, verificación, seguimiento, coordinación y transporte, podría tener repercusiones importantes en la forma en que se realizan las operaciones comerciales, ya se trate de transacciones comerciales transfronterizas financieras o físicas. Podría reducir el fraude, mejorar la gestión de los derechos de propiedad intelectual, mejorar la rastreabilidad y la confianza en las cadenas de valor y brindar nuevas oportunidades a las pequeñas empresas.
Globalization and economic volatility
Businesses and households face substantial idiosyncratic and aggregate economic risk. As a general principle, economic risk for businesses reflects the myriad of factors that impact the profitability of the business, while for individuals economic risk reflects the myriad of factors that impact the earnings and employment outcomes of household members. While aggregate risk gets most of the headlines, the volatility of profitability and income that an individual business or household faces is dominated by idiosyncratic risk. That is, of the plethora of economic shocks impacting the outcomes for households and businesses, the evidence shows that the variance of idiosyncratic shocks is at least an order of magnitude larger than the variance of aggregate shocks. For example, whether a business is profitable reflects primarily idiosyncratic factors such as product quality, product mix and choice of technology, broadly defined, including the choice of business organization, factor mix, location and business-specific productivity, and cost and demand factors. Similarly, for households, earnings and employment outcomes primarily reflect the education and skills of household members as well as whether household members are well matched in the labour market.
Conclusion
The health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the vulnerabilities and the strengths of the interconnected global economy, which has at its core the multilateral trading system. This report has examined the resilience of the global economy to crises, how trade plays a pivotal role in developing resilience, and in what ways the global trade system can be improved to allow countries to prepare for, cope with and recover from crises.
Responses to Trade Opening: Evidence and Lessons from Asia
Over the last 3 decades, several developing countries have liberalized their trade regimes. This may have happened either due partially to conditionalities imposed by international organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund in response to emergency requests for loans, in the context of a country’s accession to the World Trade Organization, or as a result of the signature of a preferential trade agreement. In many cases, the reforms may have stemmed from a country’s own disappointment with its growth performance during its import substitution phase. While movement toward free trade is expected to expand the size of the overall economic pie, such changes always produce both losers and winners. In fact, it is this creation of winners and losers, along with “individualspecific uncertainty” (Fernandez and Rodrik 1991) about who benefits and who loses from reforms, that has led to the delays in trade reforms, appropriately called “status quo bias.”
Introduction
Trade and production networks are not new. Firms have been producing items with components sourced from around the globe for centuries. Businesses have continuously sought out new markets for their products. What have changed, however, are the speed, scale, depth and breadth of global interactions. Increasingly, new players have become active in what have come to be called global value chains or global supply chains. This process of organization has brought entirely new issues to the table for consideration.
Foreword by the Director-General
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is the world’s first general multilateral trade agreement. It was signed in 1947 and came into force on 1 January 1948. As the contracting parties began to implement what is more widely known as the GATT 1947, it is unlikely they would have foreseen the full magnitude of the political and economic importance of their accord and its enduring impact as a fundamental framework for multilateral trade right up to the present day.
Les engagements en matière de politique commerciale et les mesures contingentes
Les accords commerciaux définissent les règles régissant la conduite de la politique commerciale. Ces règles doivent établir un équilibre entre les engagements et la flexibilité. Un excès de flexibilité peut affaiblir la valeur des engagements, mais un manque de flexibilité peut rendre les règles politiquement inapplicables. Cette tension entre des engagements crédibles et une flexibilité n’est jamais loin de la surface dans les négociations commerciales. Par exemple, la question d’un “mécanisme de sauvegarde spéciale” (c’est à dire la question de savoir dans quelle mesure les pays en développement pourraient protéger leurs agriculteurs en cas de poussée des importations) a été cruciale dans les discussions qui ont eu lieu lors de la miniréunion ministérielle de juillet 2008, qui visait à l’adoption des modalités de négociation - ou d’un schéma final - pour l’agriculture et pour l’accès aux marchés pour les produits non agricoles (AMNA).
Comercio de servicios de transporte aéreo: Evolución reciente y asuntos de política
El transporte aéreo, al igual que los demás servicios de transporte, está relacionado con el comercio internacional de dos maneras claras. En primer lugar, el transporte aéreo es objeto de comercio como servicio por derecho propio. En segundo lugar, es un servicio intermediario fundamental para muchos otros tipos de comercio, tanto en la esfera de los bienes como en la de los servicios (por ejemplo, en el turismo). Son muchos los estudios en los que se ha destacado la importancia de una infraestructura de transporte aéreo eficiente, efectiva y fiable, especialmente en los países en desarrollo, para lograr que se materialicen los beneficios derivados del comercio (OMC, 2004). En esos estudios se destaca también la importante contribución de la aviación civil internacional al proceso de desarrollo y su influencia en las decisiones, tanto de carácter comercial como de ocupación del tiempo libre, de muchas personas. Se espera que esa importancia aumente como consecuencia de las innovaciones tecnológicas, la desreglamentación y el mayor acceso a los mercados para las empresas extranjeras, factores todos ellos que están haciendo que el transporte aéreo sea más accesible a un conjunto mayor de clientes y a una gama más amplia de países.