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Names of countries taking part to the 8th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference are pictured taped onto rows of chairs for delegates, in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 15, 2011.

Trade Law Confronts an Exceptional Global Health Crisis

by Kathleen Claussen

How should the trade system change after the pandemic?

Trade
Pauline Muchina, of American Friends Service Committee, and activists call on the EU to end opposition to a COVID-19 waiver of WTO intellectual property barriers, in Washington, DC, June 24, 2021.

A New and Weak WTO Deal on TRIPS is Not Fit for Purpose

by Fatima Hassan

An ineffective multilateralism

A man adjusts a face mask and is wearing a black shirt that reads "TRIPS WAIVER NOW!" He stands in front of rows of empty chairs.
Trade

Sharpening the Tools in the Pandemic-Ending Toolbox

by Bryan Mercurio

After nearly two years of negotiation, the WTO makes a decision about COVID-19 vaccine production and access

Finley the fish, a person dressed in a life-size red fish costume, poses during World Ocean Day ahead of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC12) holding a sign to protest harmful fisheries subsidies. Photo taken in Geneva, Switzerland on June 8, 2022.
Trade

Tackling Food Security and Sustainability

by Inu Manak

At last week's World Trade Organization ministerial conference, negotiators found their sea legs

Volunteers wait for their names to be called before testing and taking part in a COVID-19 clinical trial at the Wits RHI Shandukani Research Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 27, 2020. Picture shows a waiting room full of people. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Trade

Vaccine Nationalism and Africa

by Evaborhene Aghogho Nelson 

African Union calls for a “People's Vaccine” as African Academy of Sciences begins mapping local clinical trials sites

Combination of photos show people wearing face masks at the re-opening of the Rood-Wooko city central market, amid the spread of coronavirus in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on April 20, 2020. The picture is a photo montage showing an array of people wearing a variety of masks. REUTERS/Anne Mimault
Trade

Coronavirus Drugs—To Have and Have Not

by Joelle Dountio O.

Africa's least developed countries should apply a WTO patent waiver, to import generic versions of future COVID-19 drugs

Masks are seen on a production line manufacturing masks at a factory in Shanghai, China January 31, 2020. New York City alone could face a shortage of millions of masks in the coming months. The image shows a human hand with two bright orange bandaids on the thumb and middle finger picking its way across a huge pile of masks. REUTERS/Aly Song
Trade

A Truce in the Trade War Will Save American Lives

by Susan Shirk, Yanzhong Huang

Immediately lifting all tariffs on personal protection equipment will enable doctors and nurses to safely do their work

Container ship RDO Concord sails through the Suez Canal on November 17, 2019. The picture places the viewer in the wake of a massive freighter stacked high with metal shipping containers as a smaller patrol-type boat passes in the foreground. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Trade

Six Proactive Steps in a Smart Trade Approach to Fighting COVID-19

by Jennifer A. Hillman

Tariffs, subsidies, waivers, licensure, and what a trade agenda to support the fight against coronavirus might look like