Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

WTO study: greater world trade helps overcome challenges

WTO
The WTO highlighted the importance of global trade. © Keystone / Martial Trezzini

The world has grown together through decades of trade and economic ties, but further progress is at risk, according to a report from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“The post-1945 economic order was built on the idea that the interdependence of countries brings peace and shared prosperity through growing trade and economic ties,” writes WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in the world trade report published on Tuesday. “But the vision is at risk, as is the future of an open and predictable global economy.”

The WTO reported that geopolitical tensions were already affecting global trade. A model analysis shows that trade between geopolitical blocs grows more slowly than between countries within a bloc. Nevertheless, warnings about deglobalization are inappropriate. International trade is still thriving, be it in digital services, environmental products or international supply chains.

The global economic order is confronted with three major sets of challenges, the report continues: security and resilience, poverty and participation, and ecological sustainability. Open trade relations reduced the risk of conflict and have led to a significant reduction in poverty over the past 40 years.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

films

More

Swiss films made their mark abroad in 2024

This content was published on Several Swiss films exceeded the 100,000 admissions mark worldwide in 2024 and received widespread praise at international film festivals.

Read more: Swiss films made their mark abroad in 2024

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR