Trade Policy Reviews

The WTO's Trade Policy Review Mechanism, which reviews the trade policies and practices of each WTO member at regular intervals, is generally considered to function well. In this day and age, complacency is unwise. Examining trade policy reviews throughout the lifetime of the TPRM, this work details its evolution from Article X of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to the proposed modifications resulting from the mechanism's latest appraisal, examining the budgetary capabilities and technical performance of all the main entities who participate in the reviews.

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) was established in 1989 during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Now a responsibility of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which replaced the GATT, the TPRM provides mutual surveillance of WTO members' trade policies. Such surveillance provides information on the trade practices of all countries and establishes a forum within which members can question one another's policies.

Each Trade Policy Review consists of three parts: a report by the government under review, a report written independently by the WTO Secretariat, and the concluding remarks by the chair of the Trade Policy Review Body. A highlights section provides an overview of key trade facts. 15 to 20 new review titles are published each year. The reviews consist of detailed chapters examining the trade policies and practices of the member and describing trade policy-making institutions and the macroeconomic situation; these chapters are preceded by the Secretariat's Summary Observations, which summarize the report and presents the Secretariat's perspective on the member's trade policies. The Secretariat report and the member's policy statement are published after the review meeting, along with the minutes of the meeting and the text of the Chairperson's Concluding Remarks.

The extreme protectionism that contributed to a collapse of world trade in the 1930s is examined in light of the recent economic crisis. The recent economic crisis—with the plunge in the stock market, numerous bank failures and widespread financial distress, declining output and rising unemployment—has been reminiscent of the Great Depression. The Depression of the 1930s was marked by the spread of protectionist trade policies, which contributed to a collapse in world trade. Although policymakers today claim that they will resist the protectionist temptation, recessions are breeding grounds for economic nationalism, and countries may yet consider imposing higher trade barriers. In Trade Policy Disaster, Douglas Irwin examines what we know about trade policy during the traumatic decade of the 1930s and considers what we can learn from the policy missteps of the time. Irwin argues that the extreme protectionism of the 1930s emerged as a consequence of policymakers' reluctance to abandon the gold standard and allow their currencies to depreciate. By ruling out exchange rate changes as an adjustment mechanism, policymakers turned instead to higher tariffs and other means of restricting imports. He offers a clear and concise exposition of such topics as the effect of higher trade barriers on the implosion of world trade; the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930; the reasons some countries adopted draconian trade restrictions (including exchange controls and import quotas) but others did not; the effect of preferential trade arrangements and bilateral clearing agreements on the multilateral system of world trade; and lessons for avoiding future trade wars.

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism, a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is designed to contribute to improving adherence by all WTO members to rules, disciplines, and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreement. This volume in the series provides information on the trade policies, practices, and macroeconomic situations of Colombia. Each Trade Policy Review is expertly prepared after in-depth analysis of an individual nation by the WTOs Trade Policy Review Board.

Each Trade Policy Review consists of three parts: a report by the government under review, a report written independently by the WTO Secretariat, and the concluding remarks by the chair of the Trade Policy Review Body. A highlights section provides an overview of key trade facts. 15 to 20 new review titles are published each year. The reviews consist of detailed chapters examining the trade policies and practices of the member and describing trade policy-making institutions and the macroeconomic situation; these chapters are preceded by the Secretariat's Summary Observations, which summarize the report and presents the Secretariat's perspective on the member's trade policies. The Secretariat report and the member's policy statement are published after the review meeting, along with the minutes of the meeting and the text of the Chairperson's Concluding Remarks.

Monitoring the trade policies and practices of members is a fundamentally important activity of the World Trade Organization. All WTO members are reviewed at regular intervals, according to their share of world trade. Each Trade Policy Review consists of three parts: a report by the government under review, a report written independently by the WTO Secretariat, and the concluding remarks by the chair of the Trade Policy Review Body. A highlights section provides an overview of key trade facts. Fifteen to twenty new review titles are published each year.