News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
‘It is Time for Action’ was the WTO Public Forum’s motto this year as negotiators in Geneva start working on reforming the institution. But current actions of major players undermine the global trade rules. Perhaps we need less ‘action’, but more big picture thinking and more long-term system fixes.
The first draft of the long-awaited agreement on reform of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement process is due to be presented to members in mid-October.
Preventing a subsidies war, export restrictions, non-economic objectives, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and reducing critical dependencies have all been in the spotlight for international think tanks. Here are some highlights from the last fortnight, where heavy-hitters have chimed into today’s existential debates on the future of the trading system.
Borderlex hosted a panel discussion at the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum in Geneva on ‘How trade policy can make (climate) migration work’. Below you will find some key take-aways from this session, including quickly actionable policy recommendations. ***
Impressions of four days of meetings at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. By Iana Dreyer, and Rob Francis for the last section.
WTO member countries must align their domestic policies with their trade policy if the benefits of globalisation are to be fully realised – and accepted by the population. This was the core message from academic and former senior trade official Arancha González in a wide-ranging interview with Borderlex at the …
Current geopolitical tensions are starting to have a measurable effect on international trade, the World Trade Organization warned.
The weather in Brussels may be unseasonably warm – as if delegates needed a reminder of a key challenge facing the EU in the coming decades – but make no mistake, the rentrée is well underway.
Proposals to raise tariffs all-round by presidential candidate Donald Trump, the release of a book by his former trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and a speech of the current holder of that position at the G20 Trade Ministers meeting show the extent of trade and WTO-scepticism in the United States. The …
One event above all will be focusing the minds of WTO officials and negotiators as they return to Geneva after their summer break – the thirteenth WTO ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi on February 26-29 next year. Nearly all of the various dossiers which are currently under discussion within the …
