This paper highlights the heterogeneity among SMEs exporting outside the EU across EU Member States and reviews how barriers facing SMEs can be tackled trade policy discussions. With over 600,000 goods exporting SMEs (over 80% of the total number of EU goods exporting firms) accounting for one...

According to recent analyses, processing trade represents around 50% of total Chinese exports. But processing trade is not just a feature of Chinese trade or other emerging economies. It is also one option that EU trade policy offers to interested companies, subject to a specific set of rules...

This Chief Economist Special Report analyses the economic benefits of the recently negotiated agreement between the EU and Singapore. The results estimated in this paper suggest that the bilateral reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers in services trade brings benefits for both sides:...

Public procurement is a negotiating area gaining in importance at multilateral and bilateral level, as evidenced by a brief review of procurement provisions in existing trade agreements. The size of procurement spending stands in most developed economies at double-digit percentage points of GDP....

Developing countries are arguably the most affected by the increasing regularity and costs of natural disasters. In addition to the often impressive casualty figures, there can be systemic trade and development implications as well. Results from a simple model suggest that exports of affected...

EU-US economic relations go beyond that of traditional trade ties. Multinational companies and their affiliates abroad do not only represent vital elements of each other's domestic economy but are also major determinants of the movement of goods and capital across borders. In the light of the...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of direct cross-border public procurement in the EU Member States. For this purpose, we use a unique dataset based on obligatory data published on TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) which covers public procurement contract award notices for the...

In light of the much praised US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), this study compares EU and US preferential trade policies towards the least developed countries (LDCs) under the EU Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative and the countries covered by the US AGOA. The descriptive analysis...

This paper draws the attention to the growing importance of services inputs in manufacturing sectors’ exports in the EU and beyond. The GATS existing four modes of supply do not adequately cover this type of indirect services value-added trade. Hence, theoretically, the case for a new indirect...

This paper makes the case for the need to "upgrade" current analytical tools used for trade policy analysis and complement them with more detailed firmlevel data. Such an upgrade should be based on the latest intellectual advancements in trade theories and the latest firm-level trade statistics...