Trade and tariffs : trade grows as tariffs Decline

Over the past 20 years, global trade in goods has nearly quadrupled, reaching US$ 19 trillion in 2013 compared with US$ 5 trillion in 1996. This represents an annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent on average. Over the same period, there has been a 15 per cent reduction in average tariffs applied by WTO members. This brochure, produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary, looks at the evolution of trade and tariffs over the past 20 years.