Using a newly constructed dataset on trade in services for 192 countries from 1970 to 2014, this IMF Working Paper shows that services currently constitute one-fourth of world trade and an increasingly important component of global production.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations seem to have hit a roadblock with member countries unwilling to accept India’s demand for greater liberalization in services.

The United States and Việt Nam met on March 27 and 28 under their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to discuss deepening trade ties and address outstanding bilateral trade issues.

Failure to strike a trade deal with the European Union by a two-year deadline would force Britain to adopt World Trade Organization arrangements, bringing with it a host of new negotiations and complications.

As of June 2016, the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) have been concluded – but not signed and ratified – in three African regions, namely the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community and Western Africa. In addition, two interim EPAs – the Central Africa and Eastern and Southern Africa EPAs – are being provisionally applied by Cameroon since 2014 and Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe since 2012.

Russia is willing to restart free trade talks with New Zealand that were halted after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, but Trade Minister Todd McClay says it is too soon to resume negotiations with the world’s 12th-biggest economy.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and other food industry representative bodies have called on the UK Government to secure two-way tariff-free trade with the EU in Brexit discussions.

Malaysia is ready to resume negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) following the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

The 8th Meeting of the Continental Task Force (CTF) on the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) commenced on Monday, 27 March 2017 in Arusha, Tanzania. The meeting is organized by the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission.

Since the end of WWII, the world economies have seen a solid 70 years of economic growth and prosperity under a world system that encourages free trade and globalization. Although growth was disproportionate and not every country could maximize the benefits from the free global trading system, every country was progressing in a peaceful environment other than those being bogged down by wars.