22-23 September 2020
Trade policy is back in the centre of policy attention. Trade conflicts among major economies have been growing. Large trading powers are considering long-held trade and investment policy stances. Political pressures are increasing to induce reshoring of global value chains to enhance ‘strategic autonomy’ and to use trade as a tool to pursue non-trade objectives. Instruments to address foreign subsidization, tax the digital economy and to use trade policy to help green the economy raise the prospects of further trade tensions. This year’s World Trade Forum brought together researchers and practitioners to reflect on recent developments and opportunities to bolster trade cooperation looking forward.
Video recording and presentations
In the programme below you will find a video recording linked to the title of each session and a presentation linked to the name of each speaker (if a presentation was delivered).
22 September
9:50 – 11:30 | Plenary 1: Trade and Non-Trade Policy Objectives: Soft vs. Hard Power
Opening remarks
Bernard Hoekman | EUI and Joseph Francois | WTI
Chair: Manfred Elsig | WTI
Speakers:
Paola Conconi | ULB
Pamela Coke-Hamilton | UNCTAD/ITC
Junior Lodge | Independent Trade Consultant
Eduardo Pedrosa | PECC, Singapore
13.00 – 14.30 | Parallel Sessions
Panel A: China-EU-US Trade Relations: from Cooperation to Conflict… and back?
Chair: Jacques Pelkmans | CEPS
Speakers:
Zhang Xiangchen | Ambassador of China to the WTO
Tu Xinquan | UIBE
Weinian Hu | CEPS
Mary Lovely | PIIE
Panel B: Value Chains and Sustainability Footprints
Chair: Octavio Fernandez Amador |WTI University of Bern
Speakers:
Doris Oberdabernig | WTI University of Bern
Joseph Francois | WTI University of Bern
Patrick Tomberger |WTI University of Bern
Clara Brandi | German Development Institute
15:00 – 16:30 | Plenary 2: Trade Policy & Trade Wars: Back to the Past?
Chairs: Ernesto Zedillo | Yale and Patrick Messerlin | ECIPE
Speakers:
Anne Krueger | John Hopkins
Craig Vangrasstek | Harvard
Sebastien Jean | CEPII
André Sapir | Bruegel
23 September
10:00 – 11:30 | Plenary 3: The Multilateral Trading System: Game over?
Chair: Mia Horn Af Rantzien | SNS, Stockholm
Speakers:
Peter van den Bossche | WTI
Deborah Elms | Asian Trade Centre, Singapore
Bernard Hoekman | EUI
Peter Draper | University of Adelaide
12:00 – 13:00 | Partner Session: What Would Happen to a World without the WTO?
Chair: Pradeep Mehta | CUTS International
Speakers:
Bernd Lange |European Parliament/Chair, Committee on International Trade
Emily Jones | University of Oxford
Kimberley Botwright | Global Trade and Investment, World Economic Forum
Bipul Chatterjee | CUTS International
14.00 – 15.30 | Parallel Sessions
Panel C: Trade Integration and Policy Coherence
Chair: Jan-Yves Remy | University of West Indies
Speakers:
Miklos Koren | CEU
Kamala Dawar | Sussex
Laszlo Bruszt | CEU
San Bilal | ECDPM
Panel D: Introducing a New Database on Investment Treaties
Chair: Rodrigo Polanco | WTI
Speakers:
Wolfgang Alschner | University of Ottawa
Priyanka Kher | World Bank
Morr Link | Hebrew University
Anne-Marie Thow | University of Sydney
Plenary 4: COVID-19: Lessons for Trade Policy & Cooperation
Chair: Alan Winters | University of Sussex and UKTPO
Speakers:
Ken Ash | Independent Consultant (ex-OECD)
Caroline Freund | World Bank
Simon Evenett | GTA, University of St. Gallen
Sabine Weyand | European Commission
Video recording playlist
Books
World Trade Forum 2015
Assessing the World Trade Organization: Fit for Purpose? Manfred Elsig, Bernard Hoekman and Joost Pauwelyn (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2017.
World Trade Forum 2016
Behind-the-Border Policies: Assessing and Addressing Non-Tariff Measures, Joseph Francois and Bernard Hoekman (eds.). Cambridge University Press, 2019.
World Trade Forum 2017
The Shifting Landscape of Trade Governance, Manfred Elsig, Michael Hahn and Gabriele Spilker (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2019.
World Trade Forum 2018
International trade, investment, and the Sustainable Development Goals: World Trade Forum. Cosimo Beverelli, Jürgen Kurtz and Damian Raess (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2020.
World Trade Forum 2019
International Economic Dispute Settlement: Demise or Transformation? Manfred Elsig, Rodrigo Polanco and Peter van den Bossche, 2021 (forthcoming)
Background papers by session
Plenary 1: Trade and Non-Trade Policy Objectives: Soft vs. Hard Power
- Perspectives on the Soft Power of EU Trade Policy | Edited by S. Bilal and B. Hoekman | voxEU.org | July 2019
- EU Trade Agreements: To Mix or not to Mix, That is the Question
P. Conconi, C. Herghelegiu and L. Puccio | RESPECT mimeo | May 2020 - The Pursuit of Non-Trade Policy Objectives in EU Trade Policy
I. Borchert, P. Conconi, M. Di Ubaldo and C. Herghelegiu | RSCAS Working Paper | April 2020 - EU Trade and Non-Trade Objectives: New Survey Evidence on Policy Design and Effectiveness
A. Yildirim, R. Basedow, M. Fiorini and B. Hoekman | Journal of Common Market Studies | Forthcoming 2020
Panel A: China-EU-US Trade Relations: from Cooperation to Conflict… and back?
- EU-China cooperation in environment and climate, a stimulus for China going green?
J. Pelkmans | RESPECT mimeo | August 2020 - EU-China trade-related dialogues, a first assessment
W. Hu and J. Pelkmans | RSCAS Working Paper | July 2020 - Dinner for three: EU, China and the US around the geographical indications table
W. Hu | CEPS Policy INsight | April 2020 - China’s Trade Policy Towards the EU: Characteristics and Prospects
X. Tu | Draft conference paper | September 2020
Panel B: Value Chains and Sustainability Footprints?
- The effect of ISO 14001 certifications on emissions: any role for EU agreements with environmental protection provisions?
M. Di Ubaldo, S. McGuire and V. Shirodkar | RESPECT mimeo | December 2019 - Domestic Versus Export-led Agricultural Transformation : Evidence from Uganda’s Dairy Value Chain
B. Van Campenhout, B. Minten and J. Swinnen | RESPECT mimeo | December 2019 - Special Interests and the Public Interest in Public Policy and Information : Insights from Agricultural Policies and Food Standards
J. Swinnen | RESPECT mimeo | November 2019 - From Unfair Prices to Unfair Trading Practices : Political Economy, Value Chains and 21st Century Agri-Food Policy
J. Swinnen, A. Olper and S. Vandevelde | RESPECT mimeo | September 2019 - Trade, Value Chain Technology, and Prices : Evidence from Dairy in East Africa
L. Ignowsky, B. Minten, J. Swinnen, B. Van Campenhout and S. Vandevelde | RESPECT mimeo | 2019 - The Methane Footprint of Nations: Stylized Facts from a Global Panel Dataset
O. Fernández-Amador, J. Francois, D.Oberdabernig and P. Tomberger | Science Direct, Ecological Economics | 2020 - Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Economic Growth: An Assessment Based on Production and Consumption Emission Inventories
O. Fernández-Amador, J. Francois, D.Oberdabernig and P. Tomberger | Science Direct, Ecological Economics | 2017
Plenary 2: Trade Policy &Trade Wars: Back to the Past?
The international Trading System Prostrated?
B. Hoekman and E. Zedillo | Introduction to upcoming Brookings press volume | 2021
Plenary 3: The Multilateral Trading System: Game over?
- Rethinking international subsidy rules
B. Hoekman and D. Nelson |RSCAS Working Paper | 2020 - Reforming WTO conflict management : why and how to improve the use of ‘specific trade concerns’
B. Wolfe |RSCAS Working Paper | 2020 - Informal learning and WTO renewal : using thematic sessions to create more opportunities for dialogue
B. Wolfe |RSCAS Working Paper | 2020 - To AB or not to AB? : dispute settlement in WTO reform
B. Hoekman and P. Mavroidis |RSCAS Working Paper | 2020
Panel C: Trade Integration and Policy Coherence
- Official Export Credit Support : Competition and Compliance Issues
K. Dawar | Journal of World Trade | 2020 - EU Export Credit Agencies : Assessing Compliance with EU Objectives and Obligations
K. Dawar | RESPECT mimeo | December 2019 - Report on the Coherence between Europe’s Trade and Development Policy
P. Apiko, S. Bilal, P. Holmes, D. Lui, J. Magntor Garrett and J. Rollo | RESPECT mimeo | December 2019 - The Enterprise Europe Network : EU Trade Promotion and Sustainable Trade Policy Objectives
J. van Seters and S. Bilal | RESPECT mimeo | December 2019
Panel D: Introducing a New Database on Investment Treaties
- Introducing the Electronic Database of Investment Treaties (EDIT): The Genesis of a New Database and Its Use
W. Alschner, M. Elsig and R. Polanco| World Trade Review | 2020 - Investment Protection Along the Belt and Road
P. Kher and T. Tran Thu | MTI Discussion Paper No. 12 Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group | 2019 - Islamic legal tradition and the choice of investment arbitration forums
M. Link and Y. Z. Haftel | Review of International Political Economy | 2019 - Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2019/2020: Rebuilding Investor Confidence in Times of Uncertainty
World Bank Group (2020), Washington, DC: World Bank
Plenary 4: COVID-19: Lessons for Trade Policy &Cooperation
- Towards an EU global COVID-19 response 2.0: Boosting smarter finance
S. Bilal | ECDPM Discussion Paper | June 2020 - Export restrictions : a Negative-sum Policy Response to the COVID-19 crisis
B. Hoekman, M. Fiorini and A. Yildirim | RSCAS Working Paper | April 2020 - COVID-19 and Trade Policy: Why Turning Inward Won’t Work
R. Baldwin and S. Evenett | VOXEU CEPR ebook | 2020 - Preparing for a second wave of COVID-19: A trade bargain to secure supplies of medical goods
S. Evenett and A. Winters | UKTPO Briefing Paper | 2020
COVID-19 Trade Policy Database: Food and Medical Products
This project is a partnership between the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies’ Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute, the University of St. Gallen’s Global Trade Alert initiative, and the Trade and Regional Integration unit of the World Bank Group.
Find data, maps and methodology on trade policy changes affecting medical and food products since the beginning of 2020 on the project webpage here.
Partners
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