Rich countries and some emerging powers offer poorer developing countries a hodgepodge of preferential market access arrangements intended to create opportunities for exports, jobs, investment and development. But the programs are often flawed and lack coordination. The initiative aims to reform trade preference programs to expand market access for developing countries, especially the poorest.
Persistent delays in concluding multilateral trade negotiations through the World Trade Organization (WTO), combined with the global economic crisis, increase the risk that the poorest developing countries will be further marginalized in the global economy. This is already happening to some degree as a result of the impact of the economic crisis on trade flows, and could be exacerbated if delays in concluding the Doha Round encourage the spread of regional and bilateral trade agreements. Unilateral trade preference programs are an important mechanism for mitigating these effects.
High-income countries have already committed, via the Millennium Development Goals and again at the 2005 WTO ministerial in Hong Kong, to provide duty-free, quota-free market access for the least-developed countries. Those commitments could provide a foundation for effective preference programs. But existing programs are often overly restrictive and complex, and lacking in coordination within and across countries.
To address these problems, the Center for Global Development convened the Global Trade Preference Reform Working Group in April 2009 to identify practical policy recommendations to make trade preference programs better serve development objectives. The group launched its final report, Open Markets for the Poorest Countries: Trade Preferences That Work, in April 2010 with the goal to encourage preference-giving countries, including emerging powers, to move jointly towards better and more coherent policies.
The core recommendations of the working group include the following:
- Extend trade preferences to all exports from all LDCs.
- Change program rules that raise costs and impede market access for LDCs, especially rules of origin restricting input sourcing.
- Ensure program stability and predictability to encourage investment in potential export sectors, particularly by making the programs permanent or long-lasting.
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With the Doha Round dead if not buried, the United States has no excuse for not acting on its rhetoric and providing improved market access for all of the world’s least developed countries.
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After a longer-than expected settling in period, the Obama administration is finally moving on trade policy. What is unclear - and the early signs are troubling - is whether U.S. policy will also encompass the president's promise to use trade as a tool of development.
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This week, 10,000 representatives from around the world will head to Istanbul for the fourth decadal meeting of the UN conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV). Trade is likely to have a prominent place on the agenda. I invited senior fellow Kimberly Elliott, author of Delivering...
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In this note, CGD fellow Kimberly Ann Elliott discusses how flexible rules of origin can improve trade for the least developed countries.
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In this brief Kimberly Ann Elliott discusses the two main priorities the Obama administration should focus on in order to revive the AGOA program and expand its benefits.
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Cutting tariffs across the board on Pakistani exports would expand economic opportunities and increase stability in Pakistan with vanishingly small effects on U.S. producers.
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This video includes highlights from the Center for Global Development's trade preference report launch, Open Markets for the Poorest Countries: Trade Preferences That Work. Working group chair and CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott presented the reports recommendations, and CGD president Nancy...
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This brief summarizes the findings of the CGD Global Trade Preference Reform Working Group and its recommendations to make preference programs better promote prosperity and stability in the world's poorest countries.
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The CGD Working Group on Global Trade Preference Reform shows how changes to trade preference programs could greatly benefit those living in the poorest countires at very little cost to preference-giving countries.
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This paper examines the potential benefits and costs of providing duty-free, quota-free market access to the least developed countries (LDCs), and the effects of extending eligibility to other small and poor countries.
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With the Doha Round dead if not buried, the United States has no excuse for not acting on its rhetoric and providing improved market access for all of the world’s least developed countries.
-
The CGD Working Group on Global Trade Preference Reform shows how changes to trade preference programs could greatly benefit those living in the poorest countires at very little cost to preference-giving countries.
-
In this note, CGD fellow Kimberly Ann Elliott discusses how flexible rules of origin can improve trade for the least developed countries.
-
Cutting tariffs across the board on Pakistani exports would expand economic opportunities and increase stability in Pakistan with vanishingly small effects on U.S. producers.
-
This paper examines the potential benefits and costs of providing duty-free, quota-free market access to the least developed countries (LDCs), and the effects of extending eligibility to other small and poor countries.
-
After a longer-than expected settling in period, the Obama administration is finally moving on trade policy. What is unclear - and the early signs are troubling - is whether U.S. policy will also encompass the president's promise to use trade as a tool of development.
-
This brief summarizes the findings of the CGD Global Trade Preference Reform Working Group and its recommendations to make preference programs better promote prosperity and stability in the world's poorest countries.
-
In this brief Kimberly Ann Elliott discusses the two main priorities the Obama administration should focus on in order to revive the AGOA program and expand its benefits.
-
Despite six decades of trade liberalization, trade policies in rich countries still discriminate against the exports of the world’s poorest countries. Much remains to be done to achieve the goal of meaningful market access for the poorest countries, including reformed rules of origin that...
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By any measure, the United States is one of the most open economies in the world—importing more than $1 trillion worth of goods duty-free in 2006 alone. Yet poor nations still pay much higher U.S. tariffs than rich countries—an average of 15 percent on a quarter of their imports,...
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Kimberly Ann Elliott, Senior Fellow Kimberly Ann Elliott is an expert on economic sanctions, trade policy, and globalization, including the role of trade in development policy. She is the author or co-author of numerous books, articles, and reports, including most recently Open Markets for the Poorest Countries: Trade Preferences...
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U.S. Trade Policy: Don't Leave Poor Countries Behind
- May 12, 2011
After a longer-than expected settling in period, the Obama administration is finally moving on trade policy. What is unclear - and the early signs are troubling - is whether U.S. policy will also encompass the president's promise to use trade as a tool of development.
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Reviving AGOA
- Sep 29, 2010
In this brief Kimberly Ann Elliott discusses the two main priorities the Obama administration should focus on in order to revive the AGOA program and expand its benefits.
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Opening Markets for Poor Countries: Are We There Yet? - Working Paper 184
- Oct 7, 2009
Despite six decades of trade liberalization, trade policies in rich countries still discriminate against the exports of the world’s poorest countries. Much remains to be done to achieve the goal of meaningful market access for the poorest countries, including reformed rules of origin that...
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Trade Policy for Development: Reforming U.S. Trade Preferences
- Sep 4, 2007
By any measure, the United States is one of the most open economies in the world—importing more than $1 trillion worth of goods duty-free in 2006 alone. Yet poor nations still pay much higher U.S. tariffs than rich countries—an average of 15 percent on a quarter of their imports,...
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Adjusting to the MFA Phase-Out: Policy Priorities
- Apr 28, 2005
In this brief we focus on potential disruptions in poor countries and the policy priorities for coping with them. In particular, we recommend that the United States, which is the only rich country that does not grant tariff-free access for imports from all least-developed countries, provide this...
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