Publications /
Book / Report

Back
Download PDF
Summary French Version
Summary Arabic Version
Strengthening the Rules-Based Trading System
Authors
T20 experts
Uri Dadush
May 28, 2019
Related topics: 
Economy
Trade

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

  • Download PDF
    Trade, Inequality, and Morocco
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    October 27, 2015
    International trade has become a pervasive feature of our lives, yet it remains controversial and resisted across the world. High and rising income inequality, which is often blamed on international trade, especially trade with China, is one reason. But the main driver of inequality is new technology, not international trade. Although trade interacts with new technology in ways that often lead to higher inequality, trade and technology also lie at the root of economic advance. So th ...
  • Download PDF
    L’approvisionnement de la Chine en ressources énergétiques et minérales : quel rôle pour les marchés?
    Authors
    John Seaman
    October 20, 2015
    Le présent article examine les efforts déployés par la Chine pour s’assurer l’accès à des ressources naturelles provenant de l’étranger en quantités toujours plus importantes. Dans sa quête de ressources nécessaires pour alimenter son économie, la Chine cherche-t-elle à encourager le développement des marchés internationaux ou plutôt à s’approvisionner en ressources de façon plus mercantiliste ? L’attitude variable de la Chine sur un large éventail de marchés des ressources suggère ...
  • Atlantic Currents: Setting Sail on Currents Powered by Winds of Change
    Authors
    Lilia Rizk
    October 19, 2015
    OCP Policy Center holds in its arsenal a wide array of different resources aimed at creating a knowledge sharing platform that constructively dissects key economic, international relations and strategic issues. To achieve this objective, research initiatives, training programs and sessions, as well as conferences and seminars are put in place, thus offering an appropriate open debate platform to stimulate new analytical approaches.  Within this range of activities, OCP Policy Cente ...
  • Une ère nouvelle d’abondance pétrolière?
    Authors
    Marie-Claire Aoun
    October 14, 2015
    Plusieurs facteurs bien connus sont à l’origine de l’effondrement des cours du brut depuis juin 2014. Face à une offre pétrolière excédentaire avec l’essor des pétroles de schiste américains, le ralentissement de la croissance économique des pays émergents, notamment des pays à forte intensité énergétique comme le Brésil, la Chine ou la Russie se traduit par une consommation pétrolière mondiale, toujours en croissance, mais à un rythme moindre que les années précédentes. A ces évolu ...
  • TTIP and economic policies in the South Atlantic
    Peter Sparding
    October 01, 2015
    This podcast is performed by Peter Sparding. TTIP negotiations, now well into their third year, are slower moving than many stakeholders in Europe and the United States had originally hop ...
  • Download PDF
    Should we worry about the Great Trade Slowdown?
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    August 25, 2015
    Struggling with slow growth, many countries (advanced and developing), have allowed their currencies to slide against the U.S. dollar. Until recently, China stood out in resisting this trend, and indeed had seen a large appreciation against the US dollar over several years. So many saw its abrupt change of course not only as signaling deep trouble in China but also as opening the door to a bout of destabilizing currency competition. These troubling developments raise two important q ...
  • Atlantic Strategy Group : Summary Discussion
    August 18, 2015
    OCP Policy Center and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in partnership with the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Institute, organized an Atlantic Strategy Group conference on June 23rd and 24th, 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil with a focus on trade, energy, food, and Geopolitical System...
  • Download PDF
    The roller-coaster ride of Chinese commodity markets
    Authors
    Yves Jégourel
    July 27, 2015
    The Chinese stock markets have been recently affected by plummeting indexes and high volatility. The substantial level of “mom and pop” speculators has been identified as one of the reason for these dynamics. Although there is no speculative bubble at the moment, we may question the impact of potential excessive trading on the promising future of Chinese commodity exchanges. ...
  • La baisse du prix du pétrole est-elle une bonne nouvelle pour le compte courant? Une analyse des termes de l’échange
    Authors
    Rim Berahab
    April 30, 2015
    Pour une économie ouverte, l’analyse des échanges internationaux recèle une importance capitale pour analyser ses perspectives de croissance. Bien des décisions individuelles portant sur la consommation, l’épargne et l’investissement sont, en effet, liées aux termes de l’échange. L’évolution de ces derniers, définis comme le rapport entre les prix à l’exportation et ceux à l’importation, est considérée comme un indicateur du pouvoir d’achat d’un pays et constitue une variable fort ...