12 trade tasks to prioritize in 2021

• The new director-general at the WTO will have a raft of challenges on their desk – here are our suggestions for one task a month to focus on this year.
• The time is ripe for a global conversation about best-practices for industrial policy and sustainable recovery from COVID-19.
• Countries should align on trade actions to support climate ambition before they gather at year’s end to advance the Paris Agreement.

The next director-general of the World Trade Organization faces Herculean challenges. Hercules succeeded at his tasks in the end by trying new tactics, so perhaps fresh approaches should be tried for trade too. The World Economic Forum’s trade community has thoughts on 12 almost impossible tasks to tackle in 2021

January

Dealing with Brexit has shown how difficult and important it is to get trade paperwork and systems understood and working properly. The same holds true worldwide, not least in poorer nations. A committed global push on trade facilitation, building on the WTO agreement in force since 2017, would spark more economic growth than eliminating all the tariffs in the world. Trade facilitation is also critical for vaccine delivery...

This was excerpted from 21 January 2021 release by the World Economic Forum.