Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a new report examining the extent to which United States trade preference programs—including the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)—protect and promote women’s rights and economic interests.
The global economy is gradually healing from the economic blows dealt by the coronavirus pandemic, but the recovery remains fragile and halting. Reduced trade is more a symptom than a cause of those trends—and what governments do in terms of additional fiscal stimulus will do far more to determine the shape of the recovery in the United States and other countries. Still, trade policy could be a factor, supporting or undermining the nascent recovery.
Three years ago, the government pledged “to help improve access to UK markets for world’s poorest countries post-Brexit." Our experts review whether they are still on track to meet this.
CGD has engaged in a series of conversations between CGD president Masood Ahmed and the Director-General candidates for the WTO, with a focus on the candidates’ views for how the WTO can amplify developing country voices in global trading systems.
Liberalized trade has led to a boom in int'l students, and reactionary immigration policies—including Trump's move to bar these students from staying in the US if their university shifts online—could leave a lasting impact on higher education and the economy.
The UK officially leaves the EU on 31st January and has prioritised an independent trade policy—but how will it meet its commitment to improve access for the poorest countries?
Perhaps the most surprising was how similar these scenes playing out in America are to those I’ve seen in Africa. To be sure, many of the factories I visited in Africa were smaller-scale and simpler in their operations than the Ohio glass plant in American Factory. But some Chinese-owned factories in Africa are similarly large-scale and technologically advanced, and no matter the size of the factory, I witnessed many of the same struggles to find cross-cultural understanding, to teach workers genuinely difficult skills, and to withstand the pressure of a highly competitive, global industry.
The World Development Report 2020 released on Wednesday highlights the economic benefits from GVCs and reminds us that protectionism and policy uncertainty around the world is now putting many of these benefits at significant risk.
In a customs union with the EU, the UK could pursue reforms in services liberalisation, Aid for Trade, investment promotion, labour standards and bilateral trade agreements, while maintaining EU tariffs on goods imports. This may be its best trade-for-development strategy after Brexit.
There is an industrial revolution underway in sub-Saharan Africa’s most entrepreneurial economies.
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