How Can the U.S. Level the Digital Trade Playing Field?

Posted: May 26th, 2017

Trade growth has been running flat against GDP growth since 2012. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), global trade volumes grew just 1.3 percent in 2016. This year, the WTO forecasts that this number will recover to 2.4 percent in 2017 — roughly equivalent to GDP growth.

For many economists, these numbers mean stagnation, and they stand in stark contrast to earlier decades, when trade expanded on average at about 1.5 times the rate of GDP growth. In the 1990s, trade growth even jumped to double the rate of GDP growth. But now, with trade growth lingering at a 1:1 ratio against GDP growth, some economists are wondering whether the world has hit “peak trade,” or an upper limit to the trends of trade liberalization and globalization that have fueled fantastic economic growth since the end of the Second World War.

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How Can the U.S. Level the Digital Trade Playing Field?

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