This working paper introduces the concept of bilateral asymmetries in international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS), i.e. the discrepancies that can be seen in reported bilateral trade flows between trading partners. Such discrepancies mean that the value of exports reported by one country...

The establishment of a Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) which would combine the members of three existing regional economic communities, i.e. the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), was...

The European Union (EU) supports developing countries with a unilateral trade preference scheme. The scheme underwent a major reform in 2014, in which many countries lost access to reduced tariff rates. We analyse how this radical step that removed preferences from 103 countries by 2018 fits...

In this paper, we discuss the agricultural trade between Brazil and China. We select a set of key commodities and debate whether there are obstacles or opportunities to increase trade between the two economies. Following an institutional and historical analysis, we provide a statistical...

The world’s economy did not suffer de-globalisation after the 2008-2009 Global Crisis, but entered a phase of "New Normal". While trade-income elasticity has been returning to its pre-1990s long-term values, the world is much more open to trade today than it was 25 years ago. We show that part...

Despite the long relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries aimed at encouraging their exports while stimulating growth and investment, the ACP states still face difficulties in integrating into the world economy. This paper examines the...

There has been a surge in free trade agreements (FTAs), with a total number at the global level touching almost 600 in number. The solid theoretical underpinning is that the FTAs enable faster economic growth and development by creating trade and investment linkages. Compared to the world, the...

Despite the long relationship between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)countries aimed at encouraging their exports while stimulating growth and investment, the ACPstates still face difficulties in integrating into the world economy. This paper examines the non-leastdeveloped...

A pivotal factor to improving the economies of developing countries is to eliminate trade barriers and increase market access. This paper examines efforts at liberalizing trade in developing countries. It explains the various multilateral trade agreements and negotiations and analyses their...

In May 2013 the ASEAN 6 countries began to negotiate the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The objective of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of constructing such a region-wide agreement and to examine ways to multilateralize it. The paper first reviews free trade...