EVENETT, SIMON J.

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SnipingsThe rubric ‘Snipings ’, introduced into the World Trade Review in 2004, isintended for contributions which, while rigorous, are shorter and therefore lessextensively developed and documented than our standard length articles. It oﬀers,among other things, an opportunity for early analyses targeting topical policyissues concerning the multilateral trading system. Submissions – which should bein the 1,500 to 4,500 word range – will be reviewed by independent referees.This issue’s Sniping is a little diﬀerent, however, since it refers to a data sourcerather than analysis per se. As we witness the worst downturn for a generation,readers and researchers will be particularly interested in monitoring the intro-duction of policies that aﬀect international trade. Thus the following briefnote describes an important new source of data and analysis on recent policychanges.f Simon J. Evenett doi:10.1017/S1474745609990061Global Trade Alert: Motivation and LaunchS IMON J. EVENETT*University of St. Gallen and CEPRUnsurprisingly governments want to intervene during the current downturn, thechallenge is to ensure that the measures taken are consistent with pledges to avoidprotectionism. It should be recalled that G20 leaders vowed at the April 2009London summit: ‘We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism ofprevious eras. ’ This pledge reiterated an earlier commitment made at theNovember 2008 G20 Summit in Washington, DC. Other heads of governmenthave made similar pledges in regional fora, such as APEC and elsewhere.To increase the information available on state measures that may aﬀect tradingpartners’ commercial interests, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)has teamed up with independent research institutes from around the world tocreate Global Trade Alert (GTA).1 A combination of peer pressure plus up-to-date,comprehensive information, the latter being supplied byGTA,will help tomaintainconﬁdence in the world trading system, deter beggar-thy-neighbour acts, and* Email: simon.evenett@unisg.ch1 The network that makes up the Global Trade Alert, an initiative of the CEPR, is convened by SimonEvenett, co-director of the CEPR’s International Trade and Regional Economics Programme.World Trade Review (2009), 8 : 4, 607–609 Printed in the United Kingdom607at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474745609990061Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 16:40:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, availablepreserve the contribution that exports could play in the future recovery of theworld economy. GTA seeks to inform debate and will not engage in naming-and-shaming; others can judge.Even though the world has not seen a return to the across-the-board tariﬀ in-creases of the early 1930s, today’s governments have resorted to massive stimuluspackages, bailouts, and subsidies, many of which include nationalistic provisionsthat eﬀectively harm trading partners’ exporters, investors, and workers. Themost recent WTOGeneral Council meeting (in May 2009) conﬁrmed that tensionsbetween nations are growing, fuelled in part by the murky nature of current policiesand the near absence of objective information upon which to assess policy.Moreover, calls were made at that meeting for more analysis of state measurestaken during the recent global economic downturn. Since solid analysis builds onaccurate information, GTA can make another contribution here.Using a network of independent research institutes and trade experts from allover the globe, GTA will seek to identify those state measures that discriminateagainst foreign commercial interests, the latter broadly conceived to include im-ports, exports, foreign investments (including intellectual property), and foreignemployees. GTA will not conﬁne itself to the measures that are covered by theexisting body of WTO agreements, it being understood that some prominent statemeasures taken during this crisis fall outside WTO agreements. Nor will theinitiative pronounce on the WTO-legality of a measure or whether a measureis ‘protectionist ’.Instead, where discrimination against foreign commercial interests can be docu-mented (veriﬁcation being an important part of any investigation into a statemeasure), the measure will be posted on the GTA website with a neutral expla-nation. Since the documentation of discrimination ideally rests on published stateregulations or other acts, more posts on de jure discrimination than de facto dis-crimination are likely. Discriminatory measures that have been announced – butnot implemented – will be investigated and potentially reported too.Over the next twelve months, GTA will oﬀer up-to-date, comprehensive,and impartial information on state measures on a dedicated website,www.globaltradealert.org. This website went live on 8 June 2009 and listed sevenmeasures that are representative of the GTA’s comprehensive scope. (Many moremeasures have been added since the launch.) Users will see that the initiative hasnot investigated solely the more transparent government measures. Moreover,available data have been used to identify trading partners likely to be aﬀected bya state measure, an advance over other monitoring initiatives.The GTA website has been deliberately designed so that users can sort the ever-growing database of reported measures by implementing jurisdiction, tradingpartners aﬀected, and sector. This feature will make it easy for governments, in-dustry, export associations, researchers, and others (including the media) tomonitor developments that aﬀect them. Users can sign up for email notiﬁcationsabout newly posted measures, and can report measures which the GTA team will608 S IMON J. EVENETTat https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474745609990061Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 16:40:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, availableinvestigate. These features of the GTA website will add to the openness andtransparency of the world trading system.In addition to being able to track government measures taken during the currentglobal economic downturn, the stock of measures that are reported on the GTAwebsite will grow and so provide researchers and government oﬃcials with in-formation on any new patterns of state intervention that are problematic fromthe perspective of maintaining open borders. As those familiar with the sharpdownturn in the early 1980s and the launch of the Uruguay Round in 1986 willappreciate, the information collected during monitoring exercises such as these cansubsequently inﬂuence commercial policy priorities of nations.Information about the participants, sponsors, and methods used in GTA can befound on the website.2 Given the advances in web-based technology, takingmonitoring ‘on line’ was surely inevitable. An important public policy question forlater is whether such on-line monitoring of state measures should become a per-manent feature of the worldwide trade policy landscape and, if so, on what terms.Any suggestions that you may have about improving GTA are most welcomeand will be shared with the initiative’s participants. To date meetings in Londonand Geneva have provided important suggestions for substance, process, andpresentation and these are being followed up. During the implementation of aninitiative such as this, it is inevitable that a fair amount of learning takes place.Much of that learning will follow from extensive listening, hence the GTA’smultiple launches and outreach activities.2 A wide range of funders were sought for this initiative, precisely to limit the actual or perceivedinﬂuence of any one funder. The funders include: the UK Government, the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre, the Canadian Centre for International Governance Innovation, theGerman Marshall Fund of the United States, and the World Bank.Global Trade Alert : Motivation and Launch 609at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474745609990061Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Basel Library, on 11 Jul 2017 at 16:40:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available

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