When this article was first published in May 2023, four trends were shaping global trade policy: a rise in protectionism, a parallel push for multilateral cooperation, new attention to rules for digital trade, and more environmental and social conditions in trade agreements. All four affect the rules and costs that businesses face when they trade across borders.
Trade policy moves quickly, so read the examples below as a snapshot of 2023. For a more recent case of how fast tariff rates can change, see our analysis of the US-India trade deal of 2026.
The rise of protectionism
Protectionism means restricting trade with other countries to shield domestic industries from foreign competition. Concern about outsourcing, inequality and a wish for national self-reliance have all fed it.
Protectionist measures take several forms, including tariffs, import quotas and subsidies for domestic producers. At the time of writing, the most recent example was the trade dispute between the United States and China, in which each side raised tariffs on the other’s goods. The tariffs on both sides hampered international trade. How these measures work is explained in our article on tariffs and trade barriers.
For an importer, a new tariff applies to specific tariff lines, so one of the first questions is which code the goods fall under. The same product can face very different duties depending on its classification and on the country it enters, as our article on country-specific tariff variations shows.
The push for multilateralism
Alongside protectionism there has been a push for multilateralism: cooperation among many countries to keep the global trading system open and to bring more countries into it. The growing weight of emerging economies, the spread of non-tariff barriers and the need to cooperate on climate change have all encouraged this push.
Rules for digital trade
Digital trade, meaning goods and services bought and sold through e-commerce platforms and online marketplaces, has become a policy subject of its own. High-speed internet, mobile devices and platforms such as Amazon and Alibaba made it possible. The policy questions it raises include data privacy and the digital divide between industrialised and less developed countries.
Environmental and social conditions
Trade policy also gives more weight to environmental and social questions, pushed by climate change, the goal of sustainable development and the fair trade movement. The OECD’s work on trade and environmental sustainability covers how the two policy areas interact.
Trade agreements increasingly include provisions on labour standards and environmental protection. The aim is economic growth that does not come at the expense of the environment or of workers. For governments, the policy problem is to protect domestic businesses while keeping the trading system open to everyone.