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This project looks at the role of the US, the UK, Europe, and leading members of the G20 in supporting a global recovery, and the longer-term need for investments in Infrastructure.

By addressing both short and long-term supply chain issues, G7 can pave the way to a global economic recovery and create better resilience to future shocks.

In the first of a series of interviews with the Queen Elizabeth II Academy Faculty, Lord Malloch-Brown tackles the challenge of agreeing multilateral solutions as international institutions struggle to deal with multiple crises.

The World Trade Organization is in its deepest crisis since its creation. This requires multilateral collaboration and innovative and interdisciplinary solutions. The goal should not be to try to re-establish the status quo but rather to adapt the world trading systems to the realities and necessities of the 21st century and the new geopolitical context. What is needed is a WTO 2.0 that responds to the world’s peace, health and environmental challenges and proactively contributes to solving them.

This paper explores whether COVID-19 may have affected the traditional means illicit groups have used to launder their ill-gotten profits processes through three main channels: increased reliance on cryptocurrencies to move and launder funds tied to illicit activity; the expanded use of the internet through e-commerce sites to continue and expand trade mispricing practices to move illicit funds; and the use of FinTech and peer-to-peer payment services to transfer illicit funds.

Exploring future trade policy through issues such as the green transition, labour standards, human rights, the role of the WTO, and non-trade policy objectives.

Balancing globalization and sovereignty

The decision in 1971 to suspend the convertibility of the US dollar into gold has lessons for addressing the challenges faced by the modern international economic system.

With Germany and Japan next in line for leading the G7, these two champions of global trade should continue to carry the baton of a separate trade track.

President Biden clearly wants US foreign policy focused on the Asia-Pacific but, without managing the Middle East, achieving his aim appears unlikely.

With more than $4 trillion already promised focused on workers, inequality, and sustainability, a transformative approach could spell the end for neoliberalism.

The proposed global minimum rate could release large economic gains and help reduce popular distrust against multinational companies.

Anger at the perceived failure of the political class has driven a wave of populist leaders but their lack of economic success is worrying for the region's future.

Adapting to post-COVID-19 realities

This briefing, which is published under the Global Economy and Finance Programme’s ‘Rebuilding International Economic Cooperation’ project, highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating economic and social insecurity for more than 2 billion people employed in the informal sector, and adding to global inequality. A radical rethink of the nature of work and social insurance is needed.

Joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will set or renew the UK’s trade terms with 11 trading partners in just one negotiation, but its significance goes beyond strict trade interests.

A new approach for the US to strengthen economic and strategic ties in the region, advance strong rules for new trade issues, and tackle China’s trade policies.

This article is part of the series America’s Global Role: The View from Abroad

As the evolution of climate policy sees carbon-neutral targets and climate taxes going more mainstream, the trade regime is being put under increasing pressure.

The US, EU, and UK should focus on their set of bilateral trade negotiations, address shared concerns regarding the global trade system, and remove underlying trade tensions among themselves.

The 21st-century global economy has different drivers from those in the previous century. Amid ever more politicized trade relations, economic diplomacy needs a more transparent framework.

With trade tensions increasingly politicized, a key appeals process suspended and COVID-19 creating huge economic challenges, a modernized and fully functioning WTO is more essential than ever. This paper makes the case for transatlantic cooperation as a necessary, though insufficient alone, condition for WTO reform.

United States trade representative Robert E Lighthizer provides his outlook on the future of international trading systems in a COVID-19 world.

COVID-19 exposes the fragility of global supply chains, leaving companies and policymakers to reconsider a decades-long focus on efficiency and reducing costs by operating on a ‘just in time’ basis.

Brussels will find its much-vaunted heft in setting standards cannot help it advance its geopolitical interests, argues Alan Beattie.

As part of the launch of Chatham House’s centenary celebrations for 2020, US Secretary of the Treasury Steven T Mnuchin reflects on the future of the global order.

The current dispute between the US and China goes far beyond trade tariffs and tit-for-tat reprisals: the underlying driver is a race for global technological supremacy. This paper examines the risks of greater strategic competition as well as potential solutions for mitigating the impacts of the US–China economic confrontation.

The champions of global trade are inadvertently taking steps that undermine the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

This paper examines the governance problems in the monetary system and global trade and regulation. It then explores whether issues have arisen because the US has given up its dominant role, and if so how these might be rectified.

With no end in sight for the trade tensions between the US and China, efforts to advance the circular economy in both economies are seemingly under threat.

The first few gatherings of the G20, at the height of the global financial crisis, yielded concrete results, and seemed to promise an auspicious future for global governance. But in the years since, the group has increasingly replaced action with empty talk.

As necessary as it remains to improve rules-based systems, the future of international order will also rely on states engaging more creatively with a wider range of constituencies – from citizens and civil society to the private sector and local political actors.

Though it is under political pressure, there are reasons to be hopeful about the World Trade Organization’s future.

This piece recommends a framework for strengthening US-EU trade relations and achieving successful trade talks in the current era of protectionism.

Although they haven’t even started yet, United States-European Union trade talks already face major obstacles. Moving forward is critical to end the ‘tug of war’ between the US and EU. The best way to get there is to take a multifaceted approach aimed at both the transatlantic market and the global trading system.

This paper recommends a framework for strengthening US–EU trade relations and achieving successful trade talks in the current era of protectionism.