We demonstrate that durable MFN tariff elimination affects trade patterns through several layers, and magnitudes of effects are sizable. The WTO Information Technology Agreement's (ITA) unique setting allows us to overcome the challenges associated with identifying effects of non-discriminatory...

Trade and investment can be effective means of implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. However, stand-alone trade and investment liberalization policies aimed at enhancing economic development may have negative side-effects on non-economic facets of sustainable development. As...

This paper analyses the new discipline on state-owned enterprises contained in the recently concluded Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, and evaluates various factors that influenced the shaping of its specific rules. The new discipline consolidates and strengthens related provisions in...

Based on the first comprehensive mapping of telecommunications provisions telecommunications in regional trade agreements (RTAs), this paper shows that telecommunications provisions in RTAs have evolved and expanded significantly over the years. While some provisions focus on information and...

Services have long been perceived as playing a secondary role in world trade. In particular, the role of services trade policies and multilateral services commitments often tends to be downplayed. However, in value added terms, services account for about 50% of world trade and are significant in...

Digital trade facilitation refers to the application of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) to simplify and automate international trade procedures. It is rapidly becoming essential to maintaining trade competitiveness and enabling effective participation in cross-border...

In recent years, there is a growing tendency in international taxation to move the right to tax the corporate income of multinational enterprises to the jurisdiction where their customer base is located. One widely discussed proposal applies a sales-only formula to group-wide profits of...

How and why do global trade rules evolve? When the EU revised the investment chapter of its recent trade deal with Canada it was widely believed that the amendments were motivated by concern over the design of another agreement: the yet-to-be-completed Transatlantic Trade and Investment...

This article engages with the recently adopted agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in the area of services. While services trade had heretofore stood at the queue of African trade pacts, the AfCFTA breaks new grounds by negotiating goods and services concurrently,...

This study surveys safeguard provisions on trade in goods in 232 regional trade agreements (RTAs) notified to the GATT/WTO up to 31 December 2012. In particular, it identifies those RTAs that modify the conditions applicable to the RTA partner (either substantively or procedurally) in the event...