WTO
The WTO launched its World Trade Report 2019 on the future of the service industry at its annual Public Forum, but fierce debates during the event prove that the WTO is almost completely “out of service” due to ongoing trade wars as well as US attacks on Special & Differential Treatment.
While the hype around e-commerce was the major theme of the World Trade Report and the lynchpin of the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s hopes for future growth in world trade in 2018, this year’s report focuses on trade in services as the ...
read more "The WTO: Out of Service, but Obsessed with Services"
read more "The WTO: Out of Service, but Obsessed with Services"
All is not well with the G20, which lacks democratic legitimacy, is hopelessly divided and is also losing its political influence. The main reason for this is the conflict between the US and China, the EU and the rest of the world. So how should we interpret the predictably surprising outcomes of the meeting of G20 leaders in Osaka, Japan, with respect to the role played by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), US trade wars and EU strategy?
In the run-up to the G20 summit, most of the mainstream media predicted another battle in the US trade ...
read more "The G20 in Osaka: all quiet on the Eastern front"
read more "The G20 in Osaka: all quiet on the Eastern front"
Vision & Fiction
This year’s Public Forum of the World Trade Organization (WTO) focused on a vision of how world trade would look like in 2030. And when it comes to visions, fiction is often not too far. However, one thing seems to be already clear—the primary trade by 2030 will be e-commerce. The CEO of Alibaba, Jack Ma, went as far as to confess his believe not only in ‘free trade’ but also in the internet: “‘Made in USA’ or ‘Made in Switzerland’ or ‘Made in China’ will be out, almost everything will be ‘Made in ...
read more "The WTO goes “e”—but head over heels"
read more "The WTO goes “e”—but head over heels"
Series of 11 fact booklets about global trade policiesThe year 2017 begins with a peal of thunder. The newly elected US president Trump abandons the Trans Pacific Partnership, a genuine geo-political monster project which aimed at excluding China as main contender of the USA in the Pacific. Simultaneously it looks like the new US administration wants to renegotiate NAFTA, and the future of the TTIP negotiations are also highly uncertain. Does the USA thus abandon their classical political hinterland? These big trade agreements have often been understood as ...
read more "Unpacking Trade and Investment"
read more "Unpacking Trade and Investment"