There's a new trade deal in town. But what is the TFA and who will benefit?

A global trade deal goes live on February 22, 2017 that will help to smooth customs procedures and cut red tape at the border. Against a backdrop of anti-globalization sentiment, shuttered regional trade pacts and shifting geopolitics, the TFA flies in the face of the current news cycle. The following offers a quick explainer on what’s in the deal as well as what it means for you and for global trade.

It’s a trade deal. Should I protest?

You may not have heard much about this new World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (or TFA). On the web it’s eclipsed by the Star Wars episode The Force Awakens, which has the same three-letter-acronym.

Through the TFA, governments have agreed to publish a wide range of customs-specific information, including online where possible, outlined measures to help speed up the processing and clearance of goods – such as procedures for accompanying documents to be processed ahead of the arrival of a package – specified options for electronic payment of import or export duties and encouraged countries to use relevant international standards for import, export or transit formalities, helping to minimize the number of different procedures businesses might have to master to move goods between countries.

The deal even includes a specific provision on perishable goods, encouraging countries to adopt procedures that clear these items as quickly as possible while meeting all relevant domestic requirements, and ensuring that importers can properly store these items pending their release. This could be a boon for the world’s rural poor, who are often exporters of perishable agriculture products.

In sum, the TFA basically tackles the unintentional barriers to trade – or the barriers that exist due to old and outdated customs systems ­– fairly unobjectionable stuff.

This was excerpted from a 22 February 2017 release by the World Economic Forum.