This edition of Global Trade Watch addresses three questions concerning recent trade developments: What is happening …? Why? Does it matter? 2016 is the fifth consecutive year of sluggish trade growth and the year with the weakest trade … performance since the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Current estimates of growth in the volumes of trade in goods …

Trade rebounded in 2017, with trade volume growing at 4.3 percent in 2017 - the fastest rate in 6 years. The recovery … of trade is not limited to a few regions but is widespread, suggesting that we may be at a turning point. The largest … contributions to global trade growth have come from East Asian countries in the developing world and the Euro area in the developed …