Trade monitoring

El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial 2012 ha sido elaborado bajo la dirección general del Director General Adjunto de la OMC, Alejandro Jara, y supervisado por Patrick Low, Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística. La redacción del informe de este año fue coordinada por Marc Bacchetta y Cosimo Beverelli. Alexander Keck, Coleman Nee, Roberta Piermartini y Michele Ruta coordinaron los trabajos sobre las distintas secciones.

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.

In 2013, the Committee on Trade and Environment discussed and received information on a broad range of environmental policy developments, from environmental footprint and labelling schemes, including carbon footprints, to green economy policy initiatives and multilateral environmental agreements with trade-related provisions. The WTO Secretariat issued the environmental databases for 2010 and 2011 and updated the “Matrix on trade-related measures pursuant to selected multilateral environmental agreements”.

El número de reuniones de información y conferencias de prensa aumentó fuertemente en 2013, por el interés de los medios de comunicación en el proceso de selección del Director General y la Novena Conferencia Ministerial de la OMC. El número de periodistas inscritos para utilizar la sala de prensa del sitio Web de la OMC ascendió en total a 2.213. Además, la OMC organizó diversas actividades de formación para periodistas.

The fifth Trade Policy Review of Chile has allowed us to have a better understanding of Chile’s trade, and investment policies since its last Review in 2009, and the challenges that it faces. Our discussion has benefitted from the constructive participation of the Chilean delegation, headed by Mr Andrés Rebolledo, Director General of International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by the valuable comments from the discussant, the Permanent Representative of Hong Kong, China to the WTO, Ms Irene Young. Members appreciated Chile’s response to the more than 320 advance written questions, and we look forward to answers to any outstanding questions no later than one month after this meeting

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.

La Secretaría de la OMC cuenta con una plantilla de 634 funcionarios incluidos en el presupuesto ordinario.

En 2012, le Prix du meilleur article décerné par l’OMC à de jeunes économistes a été attribué à l’économiste américain Treb Allen pour son article sur les frictions informationnelles dans le commerce. Le jury a en outre attribué une mention spéciale à l’Argentin Pablo Fajgelbaum pour son article sur les institutions du marché du travail et le commerce international.

International trade statistics and trade policy information provide the facts that firms and policy makers need to take decisions. Equally, they provide the information that analysts and academics need to provide advice to decision makers. Consequently, the accuracy and timeliness of these statistics are extremely important. At a time when globalization is leading to rapid changes in the economic and social environment, the quality of these statistics is more important than ever

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.

The challenge for the WTO over the next few months is to deliver a final Doha Development Agenda agreement which better integrates developing countries into the global trading system while expanding trade opportunities for all WTO Members.

Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial de cette année jette un regard neuf sur une question ancienne. Les mesures non tarifaires (MNT) existent depuis que les nations font du commerce et elles ont toujours été au coeur des travaux du GATT et de l'OMC. Je vais citer sept raisons pour lesquelles il est opportun aujourd'hui que l'OMC mène une réflexion sur ces mesures.

The previous section has shown that the future of trade and economic growth depends on a range of factors. Predictions may change depending on how each of these factors develops. This section discusses how the fundamental economic factors shaping the future of international trade – namely demography, investment, technology, energy and other natural resources, transportation costs and the institutional framework – are likely to evolve in the coming years.