WTO

Over the past seven decades, since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was established in 1947, there has been a phenomenal increase in international trade in goods, largely due to sustained efforts by the world’s main trading nations to reduce and eliminate tariff barriers in a multilaterally orchestrated manner. This publication reviews how the procedures and practices relating to tariff negotiations and renegotiations have evolved over this time. In particular, this new edition recounts how negotiations to expand the duty-free coverage of the Information Technology Agreement were concluded and provides an account of tariff renegotiations regarding successive enlargements of the European Union. It also covers tariff negotiations for the accession of a number of new members to the WTO, such as China and Russia. This book will be of particular interest to negotiators, members of government, trade ministries, economists and academics specialized in trade policy.

Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement The Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement aims to ensure that regulations, standards, testing and certification procedures followed by WTO members do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Annual Review of TBT Agreement The WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade collects data on an annual basis on the implementation of the TBT Agreement. The information in this brochure is based on the 2022 review.

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha expuesto las ventajas e inconvenientes que supone el comercio internacional de bienes y servicios médicos. El comercio abierto puede aumentar el acceso a los servicios y bienes médicos –y los insumos esenciales necesarios para fabricarlos– mejorar la calidad y la variedad y reducir los costos. Sin embargo, una concentración excesiva de la producción, la adopción de políticas comerciales restrictivas, las perturbaciones de la cadena de suministro y las diferencias en materia de reglamentación pueden poner en peligro la capacidad de los sistemas de salud pública para responder a las pandemias y a otras crisis sanitarias. Trade Therapy: Deepening Cooperation to Strengthen Pandemic Defenses, un trabajo coordinado por Nadia Rocha y Michele Ruta, del Banco Mundial, y Marc Bacchetta y Joscelyn Magdeleine, de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, ofrece nuevos datos sobre el comercio de bienes y servicios médicos y las cadenas de valor de los productos médicos, analiza la evolución del panorama de las políticas antes y durante la pandemia y propone un plan de acción para mejorar las políticas comerciales e intensifi car la cooperación para hacer frente a futuras pandemias. Ante la persistencia de la pandemia de COVID-19, las medidas de política se centran en la respuesta, que incluye medidas encaminadas a eliminar los estrangulamientos y proporcionar ayuda pública para promover un acceso equitativo a las vacunas. Según va remitiendo la emergencia, el centro de atención debería desplazarse a la prevención y la preparación. Debe darse prioridad a la adopción de medidas para colmar las lagunas de información, sobre la base de la labor del Grupo de Trabajo Multilateral de Líderes contra la COVID-19, el Acelerador ACT y la apertura de los mercados, por ejemplo, mediante la negociación de reducciones arancelarias para los bienes médicos y el mayor acceso a los mercados para los servicios. También son importantes las medidas destinadas a aumentar la efi ciencia de los mercados, entre ellas, la armonización de las normas a través del reconocimiento mutuo o la equivalencia normativa y la elaboración de normas internacionales aplicables a los bienes, insumos y procesos de producción médicos de carácter esencial. Un acuerdo sobre un conjunto de normas para situaciones de crisis que pueda utilizarse en caso de emergencia, y que incluya límites claros y convenidos sobre la fl exibilidad de la política de exportación, así como normas compartidas sobre fl exibilidades en materia de propiedad intelectual, proporcionaría una base normativa más sólida para hacer frente a los desafíos futuros.

This note examines the implications of the crisis in Ukraine for global trade and development. It highlights the importance of the supplies of food, energy and certain industrial inputs from Russia and Ukraine, and explores how the war is causing severe risks to food and energy security as well as exacerbating supply chain difficulties. Simulations from the WTO Global Trade Model indicate that global GDP and trade growth could be reduced by up to 1.3 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively, with effects concentrated in Europe and Africa. This note further shows that if the war were to cause a disintegration of the global economy into separate blocs, the income losses would be severe, especially for emerging and developing economies. This highlights the importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system, not least because the WTO provides functions that can help to cushion the impact of the crisis.

The Panel on Defining the Future of Trade was established in 2012 to examine and analyse challenges to global trade opening in the 21st century. The Report looks at trade patterns and what it means to open global trade in the 21st century, bearing in mind the role of trade in contributing to sustainable development, growth, jobs and poverty alleviation

A comprehensive account of the establishment of the World Trade Organization, focusing on those who shaped its creation as well as those who have influenced its evolution. The book examines trade negotiations, the WTO’s dispute settlement role, the presence of coalitions and groupings within the WTO, the process of joining the organization and many other topics, including what lies ahead for the organization.

The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty looks at the complex relationships between economic growth, poverty reduction and trade, and examines the challenges that poor people face in benefiting from trade opportunities. Written jointly by the World Bank Group and the WTO, the publication examines how trade could make a greater contribution to ending poverty by increasing efforts to lower trade costs, improve the enabling environment, implement trade policy in conjunction with other areas of policy, better manage risks faced by the poor, and improve data used for policy-making.

This new edition provides an introduction to the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, outlining its key principles, the work of the Agriculture Committee, and how disputes have interpreted WTO law on agriculture. This publication forms part of the WTO Agreements Series, which aims to assist understanding of WTO agreements. Other publications in the series include Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Technical Barriers to Trade.

"The WTO Building" provides a fascinating insight into the artwork and architecture of the Centre William Rappard (CWR), home of the World Trade Organization. The book describes the origins and evolution of the CWR, highlighting the many works of art created and donated to adorn the building over the years.