Subsidies and industrial policies in a world of global value chains

In a world of highly fragmented production networks, many question the adequacy of existing WTO disciplines to support industrial policy objectives that enhance competitiveness and sustainable development. In this session, E15 experts on Subsidies and Industrial Policy deliberated the main rationale for government intervention and identify cases for specific intervention as opposed to purely horizontal policies. The speakers examined specific areas in need of additional policy space and flexibility, including whether a category of non-actionable subsidies should be reintroduced to address objectives such as mitigating climate change and promoting innovation. Likewise, the speakers discussed areas that need to be disciplined further to prevent negative spillovers, such as investment incentives, local content requirements, trade remedies, and resource depleting subsidies.

Building on ICTSD’s twenty-year history of encouraging innovative thinking on trade and sustainable development issues at WTO Ministerial Conferences, 2015’s Trade and Development Symposium (TDS) acted as a crucial platform for intellectual enquiry and dialogue on the future of the multilateral trading system. The E15Initiative stream at the Trade and Development Symposium focused on dialogue around the key deliverables the Initiative’s world class experts released in January 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Discussions provided an exclusive preview of the policy options that have been developed over four years by some of the world’s most pre-eminent trade policy experts.