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...

Barber B. Conable, President of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation addressed the topic of the importance to development of trade and the need for a full role for developing countries in the negotiations. The latest general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) statistics show...

The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) may have a negative impact on trade and investment flows not just for the UK, but also for the countries with the largest exposure to the UK. The indirect impact of a Brexit-induced recession in the UK -may also be felt in the EU...

The African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Everything But Arms (EBA), two preferential agreements extended by the United States (AGOA) and the European Union (EU) (EBA) to some developing countries seem to have contributed somewhat to boost Sub-Saharan Africa's exports since 2001. However,...

The World Bank Group has sketched six strategic themes to alert us to necessities and opportunities as Fate hurries past. They focus our attention on new development solutions for the poorest countries; states facing breakdown or coming out of conflict; middle income countries, integrating...

This study examines the relevance of trade facilitation reforms in maximizing the economic impactof infrastructure connectivity investments through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It providesan overview of trade facilitation performance in BRI economies, with a focus on those...

Britain contrary to received wisdom was not a free trader for most of the 1800s and, despite repeal of the Corn Laws, continued to have higher tariffs than the French until the last quarter of the century. War with Louis fourteenth from 1689 led to the end of all trade between Britain and France...

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...

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which trade agreements affect agricultural trade policy volatility. Using a new panel database compiled as part of the World Bank's agricultural distortions research project, the author estimate the effect of regionalism on the volatility...

There is a large body of research that explores international trade as a source of the dispersion in income levels and growth performances across countries. The trade liberalization policies undertaken between 1950 and 2006 led to an almost 30 fold growth in the volume of international trade....