Publications /
Book / Report

Back
Strengthening the Rules-Based Trading System
Authors
T20 experts
May 28, 2019

The world trading system has been remarkably successful in many respects but is presently under tremendous strain. The causes are deep-seated and require a strategic response. The future of the system depends critically on reinvigorating the WTO and policy change in the largest trading nations. Important measures are required to sustain the multilateral trading system, and urgent action is needed to avoid a scenario where the system fragments. The worst scenarios will disrupt global trade and see a world which splinters into large trading blocs (most likely centered around China, the European Union and the United States) and where trade relations are based to a large extent on relative power instead of rules. In such a world the smallest players, such as those in Africa and especially those whose trade depends on unilateral preferences and is least covered by bilateral or regional agreements will be at the greatest disadvantage. All countries will incur enormous costs only to try and reinvent a system that is already in place today under the WTO.

The Policy Center for the New South supports the trade work of the think-tanks that develop the policy brief for the G-20 leaders, the T-20. It does so in a modest way by devoting the time of one of its Senior Fellows and by publishing in this volume the seven policy briefs of the T-20 Task-Force on Trade, Investment and Globalization. 

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Sous la direction de
    Muhammad Ba
    Amanda Bisong
    Rafik Bouklia Hassane
    Salma Daoudi
    Pierre Jacquemot
    Leo Kemboi
    Jacob Kotcho
    Mouhamadou Ly
    Solomon Muqayi
    Meriem Oudmane
    Mohamed Ould El Abed
    Kwame Owino
    Asmita Parshotam
    Fatih Pittet
    December 29, 2020
    Dès les premiers cas du Coronavirus relevés en Afrique, les prédictions les plus sombres ont été faites sur la catastrophe sanitaire à venir sur le continent, en raison d’un certain nombre de caractéristiques supposées favoriser la propagation de l’épidémie. Ces prévisions ont été démenties par la rapidité des ripostes des Etats et par divers autres facteurs. La progression de la Covid-19 en Afrique n’est pas le fait d’une dynamique unique mais plutôt de multiples profils de risques ...
  • Authors
    December 22, 2020
    After reaching a peak against other currencies in March this year, the dollar fell by almost 15% until the beginning of December. According to Bloomberg, asset portfolio managers have been assuming "short" positions against the dollar, that is, betting on its fall ahead. The dollar is expected to devalue against the euro, the yen, and the Chinese RMB in 2021. The peak last March, during the coronavirus financial shock, reflected the search for a safe haven in short-term US bonds or ...
  • Authors
    Inácio F. Araújo
    December 18, 2020
    We estimate the contents of services value-added incorporated in goods exports in different countries in Latin America, exploring the local dimension of the results. We use inter-regional input–output analysis to trace and map domestic value-added embedded in those countries' exports. We add to the discussion of global value chains the internal, within-country geography of trade in value-added, since the set of locational preferences that help understanding the spatial patterns of n ...
  • Authors
    December 14, 2020
    This article has originally been published on OECD Development matter platform Many donor countries seem eager to see middle-income countries (MICs) “master out” and graduate to a non-client status in multilateral development institutions before fully achieving their development potential. We argue that such institutions can still significantly contribute to the sustainable development of MICs, while also seizing many benefits from this relationship (Middle income countries and mul ...
  • December 11, 2020
    Covid-19 triggered the worst and most synchronized global recession in recorded history, albeit - on current evidence - a short-lived one. The global recession was reflected in a precipitous fall in world trade, which is now recovering. The backlash against trade and globalization long ...
  • Authors
    December 7, 2020
    The pandemic is accelerating history, in the sense that it is leading to the speeding up of some recent trends. In the case of globalization, the pandemic will not reverse it, but it will reshape it. Here we take a bird’s eye view of global trade during the pandemic, relate it to previous trends, and guess how global value chain managers and government trade policymakers are likely to react. A Bird’s Eye View of Global Trade during the Pandemic World trade took a deep dive during ...
  • Authors
    December 2, 2020
    Les relations politiques entre la Chine et l’Australie se sont fortement dégradées avec, à la clé, la mise en œuvre de la part du géant asiatique de barrières tarifaires et non tarifaires. Si les produits agricoles (orge, bœuf, vin, homards) ont été les premières matières premières à être touchées, les exportations australiennes de gaz naturel liquéfié pourraient également être dans le viseur de Pékin. Canberra dispose, néanmoins, d’une carte maîtresse : son minerai de fer dont le s ...
  • November 26, 2020
    Food security for all requires (i) sustained productivity growth and competitiveness, not only of agriculture but of the entire economy; (ii) a social safety net; and (iii) resilience in the face of periodic shocks. This is the central message of this review. Two popular concepts in food security for all are food self-sufficiency (FSS) and food sovereignty (FSY). While countries have pursued different policies to achieve FSS, the common element in their approaches is the misguided ...
  • November 25, 2020
    Coup sur coup, deux accords géants sont venus marquer l’actualité internationale. L’un, est économique et sonne comme un coup de tonnerre : c’est le RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), vaste accord commercial asiatique, signé le 15 novembre 2020. Cette date restera dans l’histoire comme ayant associé la Chine à un ensemble de pays asiatiques. Il inclut l’ASEAN (Association des Nations d’Asie du Sud-est, à l’initiative de la démarche) mais, aussi, le Japon et la Corée ...
  • Authors
    Laurence Nardon
    Mathilde Velliet
    November 23, 2020
    En 2016, l’une des grandes promesses de campagne du candidat républicain Donald Trump était de mettre fin aux pratiques commerciales chinoises, jugées déloyales et responsables du déficit commercial américain. L’imposition d’importants droits de douane allait forcer le gouvernement chinois à négocier. Les pratiques dénoncées par Trump – sous-évaluation du yuan, transferts forcés de technologie, violations de la propriété intellectuelle, manque d’ouverture aux importations – s’inscr ...