Economic research and trade policy analysis
Préface
Le Dictionnaire des termes de politique commerciale en est à sa sixième édition. Il a encore grossi et compte désormais plus de 3000 entrées et renvois. Bon nombre de ces entrées sont nouvelles.
Executive summary
The crisis in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions and has also dealt a severe blow to the global economy. The brunt of the suffering and destruction are being felt by the people of Ukraine themselves but the costs in terms of reduced trade and output are likely to be felt by people around the world through higher food and energy prices and reduced availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine. Poorer countries are at high risk from the war, since they tend to spend a larger fraction of their incomes on food compared to richer countries. This could impact political stability.
Multilateral system: mitigating the effects of the crisis and preparing for a post-war global economy
First, the war in Ukraine is impacting the whole world. As such, it is not a local war with local effects only. It therefore needs to be viewed and treated in the context of global trade and development. This is likely to result in a move for reshoring, near-shoring and for ‘friend-shoring’ – either making strategically important goods at home or procuring them from allies. This will have implications for global trade and development.
Prefacio
El Diccionario de Términos de Política Comercial ha llegado a su sexta edición. Su tamaño ha vuelto a aumentar. En la actualidad contiene más de 3.000 entradas y referencias cruzadas, muchas de ellas nuevas. En otros casos, los cambios que se han producido desde la elaboración de la edición anterior han exigido que se reformulara completamente la entrada. Ha sido necesario actualizar otras muchas en mayor o menor medida. He intentado ser razonablemente exhaustivo, pero no cabe duda de que siempre podría incluirse algo más.
Holistic use of technologies for Smart Customs of the future
2021 has highlighted the critical role that Customs play in enabling global trade. To make the global supply chains of the future more efficient, Smart Customs have to minimize Customs clearance time and costs, while intelligently managing inbound and outbound goods and vehicles. Disruptive technologies such as IoT devices are enabling autonomous equipment to drive effective monitoring of cargo and tracking of journeys.
Foreword by the WTO Director General
We live in a time of rapid technological change that has the possibility of profoundly altering the conduct of international trade. For many people keeping up to date with the latest technology and fully understanding its implications can be daunting. This report will help illuminate the so-called “disruptive technologies” that are most relevant to border management, as well as assist governments to better understand the challenges and benefits of their use by Customs.
The trade implications of a low-carbon economy
The global economy needs to effect wide-ranging and immediate changes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to limit climate change. This chapter explores how the transition to a low-carbon economy could impact international trade patterns, and outlines the role that trade, trade policy and international cooperation can play in supporting a just low-carbon transition. Although a low-carbon transition entails short-term investment and adjustment costs, it can also provide important economic benefits and opportunities. The WTO has an important role to play in increasing the ambition and viability of climate change mitigation actions.
Acknowledgements
The World Trade Report 2022 was prepared under the general responsibility and guidance of Anabel González and Jean-Marie Paugam, WTO Deputy Directors-General, and was coordinated by José-Antonio Monteiro and Ankai Xu.
Carbon pricing and international trade
Although different instruments can be used to mitigate climate change, carbon pricing has attracted increasing attention. This chapter explores the role of carbon pricing in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and its implication on international trade and trade policies. Carbon pricing puts a price on carbon emissions, which can motivate firms and individuals to make more climate-friendly investing and purchasing decisions. While the proliferation of carbon pricing schemes highlights the urgency to tackle climate change, they may lead to an unnecessary complex patchwork of domestic and regional schemes. Greater international cooperation is essential to find common solutions to carbon pricing, and the WTO remains an appropriate forum to contribute to these efforts.
Introduction
Tackling climate change requires a transformation of the global economy. While limiting consumption and changing lifestyles would help, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero will be impossible without technological and structural change on a global scale. This transformation will involve costs, but also opportunities – not just to head off an environmental catastrophe, but to reinvent the way the world generates energy, manufactures products and grows food. Just as trade helped to drive economic progress in the past – by incentivizing innovation, leveraging comparative advantages and expanding access to resources and technologies – trade can play a central role in driving progress towards a low-carbon global economy. But harnessing the potential of trade will demand new policies and more cooperation.