Overall, protection in goods and services now appears modest in developed and developing countries, but there are a number of products where protection remains high and liberalization could bring important benefits to developing countries. In absolute terms the greatest gains for developing...

The rapid growth in the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has led to concern about the weakening of the multilateral trading system. This paper looks at the spread of such agreements and the extent which they pose a threat to the system.

The aim of this paper is that of going "back to basics", focusing on the importance of market access issues for developing countries in the WTO negotiations begun in Doha in 2001. Data on protection patterns in agriculture and manufacturing are analysed, with a special focus on the issues of...

The linkages between trade and resource mobilization are complex and not well defined in theory. To what extent does trade policy affect resource mobilization and what are the mechanisms? A critical issue in this respect is that trade policy affects the current account imbalance without...

The objective of this paper was to assess the extent to which regional trade agreements (RTAs) could prevent protectionist "back slidings" and contribute to the smooth functioning of the multilateral trading system. The paper examined a number of trade policy instruments (antidumping, subsidies...

In the aftermath of the failed Third Ministerial Session of the WTO in Seattle, the WTO is trying to rebuild the agenda for a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. There are already mandated negotiations in agriculture and services (the so-called "built-in agenda") as well as mandated...

As it approached the end of the 20th Century the multilateral trading system appeared to be on a high point. The WTO was in operation for five years, 50 years after the GATT had provided a stop-gap measure for the ill-fated ITO. With the failure of Seattle, the WTO begins the 21st Century with...

Agricultural policies have important effects, positive and negative, on the poor, and the developing countries as a whole are expected to make important welfare gains from liberalization of agricultural trade and production. However, a quantitative assessment of the proposals in the current WTO...

Various proposals in the WTO non-agricultural market access negotiations are explained and analysed using a global general equilibrium model. The results show that proposals involving deeper tariff cuts imply greater increases in imports and exports, but greater losses in tariff revenues that...