Services facilitation in regional trade agreements and opportunities for convergence

by MARTA SOPRANA

October 9, 2018

Services facilitation refers to the simplification, modernisation, and harmonisation of services regulations with a view to reducing transaction costs. It is a key... READ MORE

Facilitating trade and building inclusive agricultural supply chains with blockchain

by MISCHA TRIPOLI

October 5, 2018

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and smart contracts can be a key component of trade facilitation, bringing greater transparency, accountability, efficiency,... READ MORE

Industrial policy measures and sustainability in international investment agreements

by MARK FELDMAN

September 21, 2018

States now face two competing – and strengthening – influences with respect to industrial policy: heightened scrutiny of industrial policy measures and... READ MORE

Global trade governance and the G20: Negotiating across deepening fault lines

by AMRITA NARLIKAR

September 14, 2018

The cumulative difficulties faced by the multilateral trading system today are tantamount to a full-blown crisis.

There is a temptation on the p... READ MORE

Practical ideas for aiding regional trade dispute settlement now

by AMY PORGES

September 13, 2018

Effective dispute settlement raises the value of trade agreements and the return on governments’ investment in trade agreement negotiations.

... READ MORE

From digital trade wars to governance solutions: The G20 and the digitally enabled economy

by DAN CIURIAK

August 28, 2018

The progressive shift of economic activity into the digital realm promises to create unprecedented incentives for strategic trade and investment policies.

... READ MORE

How technology can help navigate the trade law spaghetti bowl

by WOLFGANG ALSCHNER

August 14, 2018

A sizable part of global trade and investment flows are governed by rules enshrined in free trade agreements and custom unions. These rules, however, can be surprising... READ MORE

From Facilitation 2.0 to trade policy 3.0: Opportunities to expand and extend the rules of global trade

by CRAIG ATKINSON

June 11, 2018

Continued expansion of the multilateral agenda through the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement and beyond, or Facilitation 2.0, represent... READ MORE

Seeking the best forum for regional trade agreement disputes

by HENRY GAO

May 15, 2018

Many proposals have been put forward to address the problematic nature of dispute settlement mechanisms found in regional trade agreements. This piece discusses tw... READ MORE

Addressing interstate dispute settlement concerns in mega-regional agreements

by STEPHAN W. SCHILL GERALDO VIDIGAL

May 4, 2018

The stalemate in WTO Appellate Body appointments may help bring to life dispute settlement in “mega-regional” trade agreements, such as the EU-Canada C... READ MORE

Options for future proofing regional trade agreement dispute settlement mechanisms

by ROBERT MCDOUGALL

April 26, 2018


After decades of experience in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization, trading nations have become accustomed to orderly a... READ MORE

Facilitation 2.0: Enabling trade in the digital age

by RICARDO MELÉNDEZ-ORTIZ

April 20, 2018

The expansion of the trade facilitation agenda, expressed as Facilitation 2.0, is critical in a time of global industrial and societal reorganisation, of which the... READ MORE

Fixing NAFTA’s institutional deficit

by SIMON LESTER INU MANAK

March 7, 2018

The renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provides a path for institutional innovation. This post argues that the institutions that were... READ MORE

Fixing NAFTA’s institutional deficit

March 7, 2018

The renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provides a path for institutional innovation. This post argues that the institutions that were... READ MORE

Bridging distance for development: Elaborating a shared vision for MSMEs in the WTO

by HANNE MELIN

February 15, 2018

Internet-enabled commerce has the potential to reduce inequalities between and within countries, offering a tool for achieving the United Nations’ 10th ... READ MORE

World Trade Needs More Than a Nudge

by HENRY GAO

January 17, 2018

Economists usually assume that people are rational.  This year’s Nobel Economics Prize winner Richard Thaler, however, argues that people don’t always... READ MORE

Started the digital trade wars have: Delineating the regulatory battlegrounds

by DAN CIURIAK MARIA PTASHKINA

January 9, 2018

The digital transformation has facilitated old modes of trade and business models and enabled the creation of entirely new ones. This piece&... READ MORE

Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Modern Regional Trade Agreements and Reducing the Risk of “Regulatory Chill”

by ANDREW STOLER

January 4, 2018

It is now nearly always the case that regional trade agreements (RTAs) include provisions designed to facilitate and protect foreign direct investment (FDI).  Con... READ MORE

The politics of NAFTA Renegotiations

by DAVID D. NELSON

December 19, 2017

The biggest benefit of trade agreements for most countries may be their ability to ‘lock in’ policy reforms.   Major reforms to significant econo... READ MORE

RTAs and the Economics of Disintegration

by CARLOS BRAGA

December 13, 2017

The growing appeal of populist messages and doubts about the benefits of globalization materialized into two major developments in 2016: the referendum that led to dec... READ MORE

Latin American Countries in the WTO Dispute Settlement System

by HUGO ROMERO

December 6, 2017

Two out of eleven WTO Ministerial Conferences have taken place (or wil do so) in a country of Latin America (Mexico and Argentina). In this scenario, we consider that... READ MORE

Framing future work and negotiations on e-commerce at the WTO

by PATRICK LOW

December 1, 2017

E-commerce is rapidly becoming a more ubiquitous medium for commerce, bringing with it significant benefits. Like any other form of exchange in modern economies, r... READ MORE

Sustainability provisions in RTAs: Options for multilateralisation

by PETER DRAPER

September 26, 2017

The incorporation of sustainable development provisions in deeper regional trade agreements has expanded over time. In this article, the aut... READ MORE

Leveraging opportunities through regulatory cooperation

by ROBERT CARBERRY

July 1, 2017

As industry has moved to integrate and consolidate manufacturing, the application of domestic-centric regulations can engender unnecessary and duplicative actions... READ MORE

How can we make digital trade more inclusive?

by JULIA MUIR

June 12, 2017

The rapid growth of the internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) is changing the way we do business, consume, produce and interact with one... READ MORE

The Importance of Regulatory Coherence in a World of Global Value Chain

by JULIA MUIR

May 4, 2017

Most products today are made globally. The inputs used in their making come from all over the world, which means producers rely on highly integrated and well-functioni... READ MORE

Preferential origin regimes must reflect the complexity of global value chains

by ANNA JERZEWSKA

February 1, 2017

Access to preferential import tariffs under free trade agreements (FTAs) is governed by rules of origin designed to be a non-tariff barrier to trade that prevents non-... READ MORE

5 Things you need to know about inclusive rules of origin and why it will affect trade

by JEREMY HARRIS

December 9, 2016

Two weeks ago, the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector (INT) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (I... READ MORE

The Importance of Inclusive Trade in Economic Development

by JULIA MUIR

September 28, 2016

This past two weeks, leaders from around the world gathered in New York to attend the United Nation’s General Assembly. One of the topics of discussion was the&n...; READ MORE

How can we understand the complexity of trade data?

by JEREMY HARRIS

September 8, 2016

These days, the amount of data available about anything, anywhere, is growing much faster than our ability to process and really understand it. This is true in many fi... READ MORE

TPP: The New Gold Standard for Intellectual Property Protection in Trade Agreements?

by CARLOS BRAGA

June 3, 2016

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, with its emphasis on dismantling behind-the-border trade restrictions and on fostering regulatory coherence, is often referred t... READ MORE

The WTO: between multilateral and regional trade initiatives

by MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ MENDOZA

June 1, 2016

The WTO is at a critical juncture. For almost 70 years, the multilateral trading system embodied first by the GATT and now by the WTO has provided an unprecedented lev... READ MORE

Can the WTO Embrace Regional Trade Agreements?

by MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ MENDOZA

June 1, 2016

One of the reasons – certainly not the only one - why countries have moved to regional negotiations is the READ MORE

The RTA Exchange: Why now?

by MARIE CHAMAY

May 26, 2016

At ICTSD for a number of years we have been closely studying the nature and evolution of today’s  global trade and investment system, better described using... READ MORE

What Does the TPP Mean for Latin America and the Caribbean?

by ANTONI ESTEVADEORDAL

January 4, 2016

On October 5 the twelve members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) announced the conclusion of negotiations. Together, the member countries (Australia, B... READ MORE