The World Trade Report is an annual publication that aims to deepen understanding about trends in trade, trade policy issues, and the multilateral trading system.
The 2013 edition focuses on the factors that will influence world trade in the years to come. It looks at what has shaped global trade in the past and reviews how demographic change; investment; technological progress; developments in the transportation, energy, and natural resource sectors; as well as trade-related policies and institutions affect international trade in various ways.
The report summarizes the main trends in global trade that are likely to raise challenges for the multilateral trading system, identifies systemic and policy challenges that may arise in light of these potential developments, and explores what the WTO could do to address such challenges.