The ECIPE Launch Conference

After the Collapse—A New Agenda for Trade Liberalisation

YOU HAVE HEARD IT BEFORE: trade liberalisation is a much-vaunted objective, but it is seldom, if ever, achieved in a straightforward way. Is the current impasse simply one of many pauses on the road to freer trade—or does it signal a bigger road-block and a change of direction?

The Doha round has been suspended and the World Trade Organization is having an identity crisis. Recent efforts to open the European services markets to increased competition fell short of initial ambitions. The new rush to preferential trade agreements often seems devoid of major liberalising ambition, and challenges the viability of multilateral trade rules. And in the post-Washington Consensus era, unilateral trade liberalisation in the developing world has slowed down considerably. How can we make sense of the current stalemate and what can be done to revive a trade-liberalisation agenda?

A summary of the conference and the presentations held is available here.