There has been discussion on starting to produce vaccines in every country. I think the fact that vaccines were dealt with at a truly international level is the reason we got vaccines as fast as we did. There, the avoidance of autonomy has been very important.

Jacob Wallenberg, European RoundTable of Industrialists 6 July 2021

The SPS Agreement aims to ensure that WTO members’ health protection measures in the areas of food safety, animal and plant health do not restrict international trade more than necessary. The WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures oversees the implementation of the SPS Agreement and is the forum where members discuss specific trade concerns (STCs).

The publication focuses on members’ compliance with notification requirements under the SPS Agreement and the trade concerns raised in the SPS Committee, often in response to these notifications.

Key results highlighted in the booklet:

Summary tables allow cross-country comparisons of the average “bound” or maximum tariff each economy may apply to its imports and the average tariff it applies in practice. One-page profiles provide more detailed data for each economy, with tariffs broken down by product groups. Each profile also shows the tariffs levied on its exports by its main trading partners. A summary table provides import and export profiles for each economy. Statistics on non-tariff measures by economy and product group complement the data on tariffs.

The special topic for this issue is the use of non-tariff measures (NTMs). Using data in UNCTAD's Trade Analysis Information System (TRAINS), this chapter looks at three indicators of the use of NTMs: the frequency index, the coverage ratio and the prevalence score. These indicators reveal the percentage of products affected by NTMs, the share of trade subject to NTMs, and how many measures apply to a particular product group.

The...

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization have joined forces to accelerate access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics by leveraging multilateral finance and trade solutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

The aim is to vaccinate at least 40 percent of people in every country by the end of 2021, and at least 60 percent by mid-2022.  The effort will track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, working with governments and partners at the global and local levels to address finance and trade barriers to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to these life-saving tools. It supports the goals of the ACT-Accelerator and complementary initiatives.

The Task Force members are mobilizing critical financing, with a focus on grants and concessional lending; helping to remove barriers to...

Afghanistan acceded to the WTO on 29 July 2016, as its 164th Member, following 12 years of accession negotiations. The high-level session was jointly opened by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WTO Director-General; Mr Sulaiman Bin Shah, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of Afghanistan; and Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the ITC.

“Afghanistan's membership journey has been a positive story,” DG Okonjo-Iweala said. “It is a story of hope: for the country, LDC governments in accession, and the WTO.  It is a story that confirms that the values of the multilateral trading system — openness, non-discrimination, transparency, good governance and the rule of law — can deliver for fragile and conflict-affected countries and for their people.  It is a story of the opportunities for these people to realize their economic potential and improve their livelihoods.“ Her statement is available here.

Deputy Minister Bin Shah provided an overview of...

Citing trade's role in fostering women's empowerment and advancing gender equality, DDG González said that gender responsive trade policies are important for lifting obstacles to trade for women, creating new jobs and reducing wage gaps. Noting the WTO's work in this regard, she said the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment was a milestone leading to the WTO's broader engagement on gender equality and a catalyst for the establishment of the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender in the WTO last September.

The Informal Working Group is working towards crafting a concrete package to be adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference at the end of this year that would impact women's lives on the ground and help them reaping the benefits of international trade, she said.

In addition, the WTO is developing a number of gender and trade policy tools to help members empower women, including establishing a training programme to...

Solar PV has become a pillar of low-carbon sustainable energy strategies, with the cost of electricity generated by PV plants declining by 77% between 2010 and 2018, according to the publication titled “Trading into a bright energy future: The case for open, high-quality solar PV markets”. Trade and the globalization of the solar PV market have been major factors in driving the decrease in the prices of the technology as manufacturers are better able to source goods and services from competitive suppliers.

However, further support from trade policies and harmonized product standards is needed to unlock additional cost reductions and job creation in the solar PV sector, the booklet states. While average tariffs on solar PV goods are relatively low, large divergences remain among WTO members, with some applying tariffs as high as 15% on machines for PV panels, for example.

Coherence in product standards is also crucial to a globalized PV market to promote safe...

One of the most effective means of addressing this crisis is through timely, accurate information. An informed public is better positioned to make sound decisions including on questions related to trade. This is why we have created this dedicated page on the WTO website. It will provide up-to-the minute trade-related information including relevant notifications by WTO members, the impact the virus has had on exports and imports and how WTO activities have been affected by the pandemic.

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization have joined forces to accelerate access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics by leveraging multilateral finance and trade solutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

The aim is to vaccinate at least 40 percent of people in every country by the end of 2021, and at least 60 percent by mid-2022.  The effort will track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, working with governments and partners at the global and local levels to address finance and trade barriers to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to these life-saving tools. It supports the goals of the ACT-Accelerator and complementary initiatives.

The Task Force members are mobilizing critical financing, with a focus on grants and concessional lending; helping to remove barriers to...

Participation at the Forum is free of charge. Travel and accommodation costs are to be borne by participants.

Those interested in attending the Forum should complete the online registration form no later than 6 September 2021.

> Return to Public Forum 2021 page

During an all-day meeting with 104 ministers and heads of delegation, WTO members pledged to conclude the negotiations soon and certainly before the WTO's Ministerial Conference in early December, and to empower their Geneva-based delegations to do so. Members also confirmed that the negotiating text currently before them can be used as the basis for the talks to strike the final deal.

“I feel new hope this evening. Because ministers and heads of delegation today demonstrated a strong commitment to moving forward and doing the hard work needed to get these negotiations to the finish line. I applaud you for this. In 20 years of negotiations, this is the closest we have ever come towards reaching an outcome — a high-quality outcome that would contribute to building a sustainable blue economy,” said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“One fundamental conclusion that I draw from your interventions today is that members are ready to use the text as the basis...

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization have joined forces to accelerate access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics by leveraging multilateral finance and trade solutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

The aim is to vaccinate at least 40 percent of people in every country by the end of 2021, and at least 60 percent by mid-2022.  The effort will track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, working with governments and partners at the global and local levels to address finance and trade barriers to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to these life-saving tools. It supports the goals of the ACT-Accelerator and complementary initiatives.

The Task Force members are mobilizing critical financing, with a focus on grants and concessional lending; helping to remove barriers to...

Aid for Trade helps developing countries, and particularly least developed countries, trade. Many developing countries face a range of supply-side and trade-related infrastructure obstacles which constrains their ability to engage in international trade.

The WTO-led Aid-for-Trade Initiative encourages developing country governments and donors to recognize the role that trade can play in development. In particular, the initiative seeks to mobilize resources to address the trade-related constraints identified by developing and least-developed countries.

The WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) aims to support and promote trade-related academic activities by universities and research institutions in developing and least-developed countries.  A total of 19 universities remain part of the network of WTO Chairs, while the selection of a new cohort of Chairs for the next four-year term is still ongoing.

DDG Zhang cited the value and significance of the WCP Chairs' activities and of the latest projects in particular, noting the importance of the programme in supplying developing and least-developing countries with training, research, and policy advice on various WTO-related matters. This kind of support and outreach is crucial, particularly in the run up to the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference later this year, he added.

A call for project proposals was issued earlier this year to the existing network of WTO Chairs.  Following this call, fourteen proposals were submitted by the Chairs, including three joint...

The John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition is a simulated dispute settlement proceeding with written submissions and hearings under the rules of the WTO dispute settlement system. The competition was formerly known as the ELSA Moot Court Competition in WTO Law and was renamed in 2018 after John H. Jackson, an eminent legal scholar and expert on the multilateral trading system.

The WTO has been a technical sponsor and partner in the competition since its inception in 2002-2003. The WTO sends legal experts to the regional rounds to act as panelists. WTO staff members also advise ELSA on the academic aspects of running the competition and help organize regional rounds and the final oral round in Geneva.

Each year, around 90 universities from dozens of countries across the world participate in the competition, with students competing in five regional rounds — two rounds in Europe and one each for the Americas, Africa, East Asia and Oceania, and West and South...

The Goods Barometer is a composite leading indicator for world trade, providing real-time information on the trajectory of merchandise trade relative to recent trends. The barometer's current reading of 109.7 is nearly 10 points above the baseline value of 100 for the index and up 21.6 points year-on-year, reflecting both the strength of the current recovery and the depth of the COVID-19 shock last year.

In the latest month, all of the barometer's component indices were above trend and rising, highlighting the broad-based nature of the recovery and signalling an accelerating pace of trade expansion.

Among the barometer’s component indices, the biggest gains were seen in export orders (114.8), air freight (111.1) and electronic components (115.2), all of which are highly predictive of near-term trade developments. The strength of the automotive products index (105.5) may reflect improving consumer sentiment, since confidence is closely linked to sales of...

The Trade Cost Index has been produced by the Economic Research and Statistics Division (ERSD) to complement other statistics that WTO provides on trade costs, such as average tariffs or the number of non-tariff measures. The aim is to give a sense of the degree of restrictiveness of some of these measures, to measure how trade policy barriers compare to other trade costs, and who bears these costs.

What is it? The WTO Trade Cost Index uses estimates of bilateral trade costs for 43 economies and 31 sectors between 2000 and 2018 to illustrate the evolution of trade costs over time, the incidence of trade costs across economies and sectors ( Economy-Sector ), for different household income groups, by gender, firms size and skill groups ( Economic Agents ) as well as identify the main factors determining trade costs ( Determinants ).

How is this index built? Our approach is top down. That is, we start from an indirect estimation of overall trade...

The WTO Secretariat is organized into divisions. These are normally headed by a director who reports to a Deputy Director-General or directly to the Director-General. The Appellate Body has its own Secretariat.