Countries with trade partners that implemented more stringent lockdowns had a sharper drop in imports. Though trade flows have adjusted, more diversified global value chains could help lessen the impact of future shocks. The demand and supply shocks unleashed by the pandemic were expected to lead to a dramatic collapse in trade, but international commerce has proven more resilient than during previous global crises. While goods trade fell sharply in the second quarter of 2020, it bounced back to pre-pandemic levels...

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"Check against delivery" | Paris, 7 March 2022 | Introduction Good morning. Thank you so much for inviting me to be with you today. I am glad to be here in person. Because getting together, being in one room  makes a difference. This is especially true these days. The events of the past weeks are a watershed moment for us all. They alter the course of our policies and the calculus of our foreign relations. I don't want to say too much about...

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From the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program | March 2022 | Forward The 2022 Trade Policy Agenda and 2021 Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program are submitted to the Congress pursuant to Section 163 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. § 2213). Chapter IV and Annex III of this document meet the requirements of Sections 122 and 124 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act...

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Global services trade regulations showed signs of liberalisation in 2021, slowing the steady build-up of trade barriers identified in previous years, according to a new OECD report. OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Policy trends up to 2022 shows that liberalisation outpaced new restrictions during the past year, as the erection of new barriers to services trade slowed across almost all major sectors covered. The average cumulative increase in barriers across sectors covered by the Index (STRI) was six times lower in 2021...

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Today, the EU is requesting consultations with Russia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning export restrictions placed by Russia on wood products. The export restrictions consist of significantly increased export duties on certain wood products and a drastic reduction in the number of border crossing points through which exports of wood products can take place. The Russian restrictions are highly detrimental to the EU wood processing industry, which relies on exports from Russia, and create significant uncertainty on the...

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A group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have today concluded negotiations on a landmark agreement to cut red tape in services trade. The so-called Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by SMEs in particular. This agreement will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year. This is the first WTO deliverable in the area of trade in...

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European Commission President von der Leyen and United States President Biden agreed today to start discussions on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium. This marks a new milestone in the transatlantic relationship, and in EU-US efforts to achieve the decarbonisation of the global steel and aluminium industries in the fight against climate change. The two Presidents also agreed to pause the bilateral World Trade Organization disputes on steel and aluminium. This builds on our recent successes in...

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