Global Trade Policy: Challenges and Opportunities

This note summarizes the analysis and conclusions from a hybrid roundtable held in September 2023 under the Chatham House Rule to explore the fast-moving field of economic security.

Japan’s G7 presidency is a chance to narrow differences on economic security, strengthen member coordination, and step-up engagement with non-G7 countries.

The economic benefits are small, but the UK can use its membership of CPTPP to boost its global profile by influencing trade and international governance.

Global trade continues to face multiple challenges as the risks of deepening tensions between the US and China, along with those of an escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine, weigh on economies.

Amid global competition to define the rules and standards around digital innovation, policymakers in the US, EU and UK will need to cooperate in promoting governance models rooted in support for democratic values and a free and open internet.

Exploring future trade policy through issues such as the green transition, labour standards, human rights, the role of the WTO, and non-trade policy objectives.

With Germany and Japan next in line for leading the G7, these two champions of global trade should continue to carry the baton of a separate trade track.

Joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will set or renew the UK’s trade terms with 11 trading partners in just one negotiation, but its significance goes beyond strict trade interests.

A new approach for the US to strengthen economic and strategic ties in the region, advance strong rules for new trade issues, and tackle China’s trade policies.

As the evolution of climate policy sees carbon-neutral targets and climate taxes going more mainstream, the trade regime is being put under increasing pressure.

The 21st-century global economy has different drivers from those in the previous century. Amid ever more politicized trade relations, economic diplomacy needs a more transparent framework.

Marianne Schneider-Petsinger explains the three key functions of the WTO and the current challenges facing each of these functions.

A modernized and fully functioning WTO is more essential than ever. This paper makes the case for transatlantic cooperation as a necessary condition for reform.

As the economic recovery from coronavirus is worked through, careful steps are needed to ensure actions to enforce human rights commitments in trade agreements do not worsen human rights impacts.

COVID-19 exposes the fragility of global supply chains, leaving companies and policymakers to reconsider a decades-long focus on efficiency and reducing costs by operating on a ‘just in time’ basis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought food security and food imports to the forefront again. Some fear that the crisis could quickly strain global food supply chains as countries adopt new trade restrictions to avoid domestic food shortages.

Brussels will find its much-vaunted heft in setting standards cannot help it advance its geopolitical interests.

As the US faces off over trade with both China and the EU, expect another year of uncertainty.