Date: 2020
Type: Contribution to book
COVID-19 trade policy measures, G20 declarations and WTO reform
Simon EVENETT and Richard BALDWIN (eds), Revitalising multilateralism : pragmatic ideas for the new WTO director-general, London : CEPR Press, 2020, pp. 63-69[Global Governance Programme], [Global Economics]
HOEKMAN, Bernard M., COVID-19 trade policy measures, G20 declarations and WTO reform, in Simon EVENETT and Richard BALDWIN (eds), Revitalising multilateralism : pragmatic ideas for the new WTO director-general, London : CEPR Press, 2020, pp. 63-69[Global Governance Programme], [Global Economics] - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69110
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Many WTO members responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a mix of export controls and import liberalisation/trade-facilitating measures for medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) (facemasks, respirators, etc.).2 The aim of these actions was to maximise domestic availability of critical products needed to combat the pandemic. Such national actions can – and did – create negative international spillovers and may impede supply responses to sharp increase in global demand by disrupting global value chains and production networks. In this chapter, I focus on G20 declarations and behaviour during the first nine months of 2020 in light of the applicable WTO rules on the use of quantitative export restrictions in emergencies. Comparing G20 principles and WTO rules with observed behaviour suggests there is a significant gap between principles and practice: G20 countries have not ‘walked the talk’. Closing the gap requires WTO members to launch a work programme to enhance policy transparency and give the WTO Secretariat the mandate to collect and analyse information on the broad range of policies used by members, establishing the evidence base needed for cooperation to attenuate cross-border policy spillovers.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/69110
ISBN: 9781912179381
Series/Number: [Global Governance Programme]; [Global Economics]
Publisher: CEPR Press
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