ABSTRACT
After close to 70 years of trade liberalisation, a series of recent events suggests that the tide may well be turning. First, international trade as a proportion of global gross domestic product (GDP) has stopped growing since 2005 (Figure 1.1). Second, the momentum for trade liberalisation at the multilateral level has been lost with the Doha Round’s failure, and there is little hope of a revival. Even regional trade agreements, sometimes seen as alternatives to multilateral liberalisation, are under heavy attack, now even in the US (despite the Trade Facilitation Agreement that came into effect on 22 February 2017).
