Publikationen

The spread of the corona virus (COVID-19) causes not only a high number of illnesses and deaths but also enormous economic damage. For many developing countries and emerging markets, whose economic development is fragile irrespective of this pandemic, the economic...

One of the key issues in WTO reform is to enhance the efficiency and flexibility of the institution. As it is often hard to reach consensus among 164 member states, one way forward could be that a subset of members deepens cooperation in a specific area. This could take...

Reforming WTO working practices can increase the efficiency of the organisation and raise its attractiveness to its members. This paper summarises the main recommendations from our other publications on reforming WTO working practices.

Industrial subsidies are a major source of trade tensions among WTO members. Cooperating internationally on how to deal with industrial subsidies, improve transparency and create common disciplines would defuse many of these conflicts. This paper summarises the...

Recent survey evidence and proposals made in long-running negotiations to improve WTO dispute settlement procedures illustrate that many stakeholders believe the system needs improvement. The Appellate Body crisis could have been avoided but for the use of consensus as WTO...

In 1995, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded, much was expected of this new forum. However, 25 years later, the WTO has not lived up to these great expectations, as an analysis of media coverage over this period shows. Since the mid-2000s, the intensity of...

Global economic trends over the last decades have steadily increased the links between Asia and Europe. For both regions, a growing economic interdependency represents an opportunity to build strong, fair and sustainable relations. Nonetheless, constant global economic...

WTO committees hold so-called „thematic sessions“. These informal meetings help to adopt a more forward looking agenda than the usual committee routine does. They also provide an opportunity to bring in outside stakeholders and experts on specific topics of interest to the...

The incapacitation of the Appellate Body in December 2019 was a huge blow to the judicial arm of the WTO. When improving and reforming rule enforcement at the WTO, it is however vital not only to look at the top if the dispute resolution pyramid but equally at the bottom. In...

Negative international spillovers created by nontariff policies are a rising source of trade tensions and conflicts. The WTO does not include rules for subsidies for services industries, state-owned enterprises or investment incentives. Existing disciplines on industrial...