International Trade Promotes Growth and Development

iStock/Thinkstock

In a speech, “Charting a Course for Trade in an Uncertain Future," given by Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy at the Brookings Dialogue in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, he said:

Trade as a share of global GDP has risen from roughly 40% in 1980 to around 60% today. In the United States, a country long considered less dependent on trade than many others, the share has risen from 10% to 25% over the same period of time.  US exports of goods and services in the last 10 years have more than doubled to over $2 trillion. One reason for this dramatic expansion is that US exporters have entered new markets in a big way. When China entered the WTO in 2001, US exports to the Middle Kingdom were $20 billion. By 2011 they had increased more than five-fold to over $100 billion. 

Read the entire speech here.

Making Informed Decisions About the Food We Eat From Around the World

iStock/Thinkstock

The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that country-of-origin labels will remain the same while the U.S. government continues to review the ruling.

The ruling, public advocates fear, could lead to trade sanctions against the United States or a watering down of the labels designed to tell consumers where their meat comes from.

U.S. statement:

The United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk put a happy face on the WTO ruling, “which affirmed the United States’ right to adopt labeling requirements that provide information to American consumers about the meat they buy.”

Read the entire article here.

Adapt to Global Trade

iStock/Thinkstock

In the past, China has taken a conservative profile in organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). But now, its getting more adapted and flexing its muscles to global trade rules, as exemplified in its recent complaint to the WTO on an anti-dumping dispute with the European Union (EU).

Read more here and here.

World Trade Organization 2007 Data and Foreign Trade Statistics

iStock/Thinkstock

Due to reader inquiries (and the media), we went on a virtual mission to find direct links to trade data. The WTO has released two updated statistical publications. This year’s edition of the annual “International Trade Statistics," released electronically on 12 November 2007, has a more user-friendly presentation and expanded content on trade in services

Also available electronically is a fabulous updated “Trade Profiles," which offers a quick but comprehensive look (197 pages!) at WTO members’ trade statistics and policy measures and those of countries negotiating WTO membership.

Go here to access WTO information.

If you want or need more data, the best of the best is published by U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Statistics.