By targeting specific trade violations rather than balanced flows, global trade policy has been focusing on the wrong outcome. New trade rules are needed to create an international trading system in which comparative advantage allocates production.
Erica Hogan is a research assistant in the Carnegie Global Order and Institutions Program. She was previously a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Carnegie Global Order and Institutions Program. Before joining Carnegie, Erica studied Economics and Fundamentals: Issues and Texts at the University of Chicago.
By targeting specific trade violations rather than balanced flows, global trade policy has been focusing on the wrong outcome. New trade rules are needed to create an international trading system in which comparative advantage allocates production.
Demand is growing for more representative and equitable global institutions that are capable of managing the risks and opportunities of interdependence—such as accelerating climate change and rapid technological innovation.
The revival of the concept signals enduring frustration with inequalities embedded in the global order.
Alleviating the debt crises currently experienced by many low- and middle-income countries is in the interest of wealthy Western countries like the United States.